


Another Side of the Story - Part III

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Novel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-22
Updated: 2012-06-22
Packaged: 2019-01-19 20:37:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12417708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: This is the sequel to the second part of Another Side of the Story. Still injured, Billie has managed to safely leave Hogwarts and arrives in the village of Francis Lejeune in France.





	1. Part III - Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

<b>Part three</b>

 

1

 

The sun was rapidly sinking lower now, causing the shadows to stretch even more than they already did at this time of the year, meanwhile highlighting the bright green, red and brown colours of the surrounding trees and flower scrubs, which resulted in such a magnificent sight, that it looked as if nature was making up for the long weeks and months of grey, listless and wet weather that had dominated most of the past summer.

 

The spectacular scenery caused Billie to slow down and finally stop altogether. As her heart still beat at a slightly higher speed from the effort of climbing the hill, she stood travelling her eyes over the century-old beeches, oaks and birches that were standing erect, still showing off with the green treetops they would only have for a little while longer before the first leaves started to turn yellow.

 

The fading sun rays reached out to her face, neck and bare arms. After a long journey, which she had spent in solitude and fear and an overall feeling of hopelessness, she welcomed this warm glow. As she stood there, she tried to imagine for just a split second that she was <i>not </i>being stigmatised and chased for the mere fact that her parents and her brothers had no magical skills and that she had only mastered her withcraft through a combination of intelligence and hard work. 

But she wasn’t successful. 

She sighed deeply. She took one more moment to stretch her painful back and shoulders and started on the last mile that would take her down to the little village, where she would hopefully find help. 

 

She let a sigh of relief when she finally entered the small collection of plane trees that covered most of the cottage’s front door, and couldn’t help finding the loudly and threateningly barking shepherd’s dog that came speeding towards her surprisingly welcoming. 

At least there was a creature she knew how to handle.

She immediately sat down on her heels, reached out her hand and patiently sat waiting until the wet snout had touched and wetted every inch of her palm and fingers and the thick tail started to wag in acceptance. 

 

The dog’s barking had of course alerted the only inhabitant in the house. As the front door opened, Billie stopped scratching the soft fur behind the dog’s ears and straightened. 

“Qui est-ce?” came a voice from behind the half-opened door, “Qu’est-ce que vous voulez?”.

“Billie Matthews, Monsieur Lejeune. Votre amie Minerva McGonnagle m’a envoyée” 

As soon as she had mentioned McGonnagle’s name, the door opened wider, revealing an elderly farmer. 

He took a while to take in her appearance. She seemed reliable enough, but a couple of questions just for the sake of security would give him total proof of her good intentions. 

“And why has she sent you on a quest to see me?”.

“To study the animals you take care of,” Billie replied, not because it was the truth, but because it had been written on the instructions she had found in her hand, just before she had left from Hogwarts.

“Lesquels?” He made the switch from French to English very easily, but also that had been mentioned in the instructions and Billie knew she had to follow him in this. 

“Les oiseaux”. 

“Very well,” he nodded, “Come in. Lazarus, you stay outside. Garde la maison!”

 

As soon as the front door closed behind them, he took out a wand which he started to flick around until the house was completely sealed and protected from undesired lookers-on and other untrustworthy visitors.

“Those questions are ridiculous” he muttered as he lead the way to a rather big kitchen, where a long table stood gleaming in the light of the flickering oil lamp that was hanging above it. 

“They could have been chosen better,” Billie agreed, “People may think it suspicious anyway that an unknown woman should visit a solitary farmer at nightfall”.

“Yes, well, I doubt the scum that rule your world these days will be stopped by a fake conversation, to be honest” the farmer sighed. “How low our people has fallen if we have to protect ourselves by means of such nonsense!”

Billie nodded and extended her hand, that had been drooled over by the dog and shook his, that hardly looked any cleaner.

“I’m Billie Matthews. Thank you for having me here”. 

“Francis Lejeune. Enchanté… You’re most welcome. How’s my old friend Minerva? 

“Professor McGonnagle is in great shape… Well, for as far as one can be these days”. 

“Rebelling against all oppression, no doubt”, he sounded surprisingly proud, “In her own discrete way, of course. Doesn’t look the type, does she? Well, you’re wrong there. She was always a bit of a rebel in her young days. Quite a handful at school really”. 

Billie smiled. “Was she your classmate?”. 

“Merlin, no! My dear girl, how old do you think she is! And I? I have retired centuries ago, and she’s still in her prime”.

“Oh. … I thought you said you were friends?”

“Long story… Anyway, I suppose you’re hungry?”. 

“A little,“ Billie admitted. She couldn’t recall the last time she had had a decent meal. Not that that was saying anything; there seemed to be serious gaps in her memory altogether, and that was highly unsettling. But she knew for certain that she hadn’t been able to eat anything after the Carrows had attacked her, and then, when she had left Hogwarts through the tunnel Minerva had instructed her to take, she had been too anxious and nervous to eat.

“Good,” he said as he turned to grab a completely dented kettle, and took it to an old-fashioned water pump that started to fill the kettle on its own. “I haven’t come round to baking any fresh bread today, but there’s still plenty of Saturday’s in the basket over there, on which I do not think you will break many teeth. That, and a slice of homemade goat’s cheese, would that do the trick? And a bowl of my famous pumpkin soup of course”. 

“That would be lovely,“ Billie smiled gratefully as she sat down on the chair he had pulled out for her. “It sounds like a feast to me”. 

And it tasted like one, too. If his bread was that soft still after two days, she wondered what his fresh ones were like. And the soup and goat’s cheese went down like nothing she had eaten in a long time.

“I can’t offer you any meat, though”, he said, “Been a veggie for over fifty years. Couldn’t possibly eat animals”.

“Never mind,” smiled Billie, “I’m not a keen carnivor myself".

While she was eating, her host sat sipping his tea and studying her in silence. She let her eyes run over him a couple of times too. He had to be very old, there was no doubt about that; deep lines were crisscrossing his face and hands like a spiderweb. His hair was white, but still thick, and so was the beard that covered the complete lower half of his face. He was slightly bent, but rather robust still and in his youth probably quite a bulky character. It was hard to tell what sort of a person he was. 

“Isn’t it rather risky to let someone like me in, just like that?” she finally asked as she was finishing her last spoonful of pumpkin soup, “After all, you don’t know me at all. You’ve never seen me before, and these are dark times”. 

“Anyone sent by Minerva is a friend. Minerva doesn’t rub shoulders with the dark ones “,  was his reply, “Furthermore, you had other references too”. 

“Really?” She looked up from her soup bowl in surprise, “and who should they be?”

“Muriel” 

Her eyebrows went high up at this. “Muriel? Who’s that?”

“Muriel Prewett. We were at Hogwarts together”. 

Billie frowned. “Muriel Prewett? Could that be Auntie Muriel? Molly Weasley’s aunt?”

“Yes, I think so. Molly and Arthur were one of the last students I taught before I moved to France. I vaguely recall her telling me Molly was her niece”. 

“And Auntie Muriel recommended me?” asked Billie, “How strange”.

“She didn’t really recommend you, you know,” said Francis, “The thing is, all Weasleys are known to have the heart In the right place. They are officially called a family of bloodtraitors and to me, that is nothing more and nothing less than a straightforward compliment. So if one of them chooses a muggle girl as a friend, she has to be a good one, with the right mindset and the right goal in life”. 

Billie smiled. “So you knew about me and Fred, their son?”

Francis shook his head “Not really. Muriel told me about you and your connection to the family, but she didn’t tell me how you got involved with them. Besides, her friendship with Minerva McGonnagle is a much more important reference to me”

He emptied his cup and pushed it aside.

“How come Minerva told you to come here? What are you hoping to find with me?”. 

She took up her cup of tea. “The simplest explanation for my being here is that I’m muggle-born and therefore on the run. And since I don’t possess any special powers to hide or to work undercover, I’m urgently looking for a skill that could help me survive, or even more so, work for whoever is unhappy with this government”. 

Francis nodded. “And why me?”

“Well, to be honest I don’t know that myself. You see, things have happened and I have lost a part of my memory. Your address and the instruction to study animagus transfiguration with you, and possibly even Occlumency, was written on a piece of paper by Minerva”. 

“I see. So Minerva advised you to become an animagus? That’s rather unusual isn’t it?”

“The idea of becoming an animagus was my own. The art has always fascinated me. I love animals for one thing, and being able to think and reflect but still live in the body of an animal offers an enormous range of possibilities, especially now”. 

“You do know that all animagi must be registered?”

Billie nodded. “Yes, of course, but these are dark times, and I can’t afford being registered. What would be the point of becoming an animagus if the Death Eaters were able to trace me back straight away? “

“I know, “said Francis, “and I understand your point too. But the fact remains that you’re asking me, a complete stranger, to help you with an illegal initiative. Or isn’t that why you came here?”

Billie bit her lip. “Yes, … indeed. I’m sorry to have to ask you this but yes, this is exactly what I would ask you to teach me”. 

“And what exactly would you like to achieve with these lessons? What will you do with it, if you manage to master the art of transforming into an animal?”

“That depends on the animal I will become”, said Billie, “and of its abilities. The best thing would be for me to become an animal that could easily hide and sneak away when necessary, but be swift and inconspicuous when actions must be taken”. 

“I see,” said Francis, “but you can’t choose your animal, so what if you become a tiger? Or an elephant?”. 

“I don’t know,” said Billie. She had been giving the matter quite some thought lately and had never been able to define a plan B, “But I read that most animagi turn into the animal their patronus takes. And in my case, that would be a bird”. 

“Unless your patronus has other reasons for taking that form”.

There was a silence during which Billie sat drinking her tea and Francis was carefully studying her.

“One thing is seriously puzzling me…” he suddenly said. “This Occlumency”. 

Billie shot him a questioning glance. 

“Did you say that Minerva asked you to study Occlumency with me?”

She nodded. 

“That’s impossible”.

Billie’s eyes went wide open in surprise. “Oh,” she said, quite taken aback, “how funny. Why is it not possible? Can’t you do it?”

“That is not the issue”, he said and he was really looking at her in a very curious way now. “Did you say it was written on her note?”

“Yes, definitely,” she tried hard to think of another occasion during which Minerva could have told her about his Occlumency skillss but she couldn’t think of any.

“Wait… I have it here somewhere”. 

She grabbed for the bag she had brought with her and after some rummaging, came up with a crumpled piece of parchment which she handed over to him.

<i>Francis Lejeune</i>

<i>1 Rue des Forêts</i>

<i>Hargnies</i>

<i>(He’s a master at animagus tranfiguration but also ask him to teach you the basics of Occlumency)</i>

<i></i>

<i>Minerva </i>

<i></i>

<i>PS Francis mixes French and English: just follow him in whatever language he chooses.</i>

<i>PS2 When he opens the door, tell him you have come to study his birds, until you are safely inside</i>

<i></i> As soon as his eyes fell on the note, his suspicions were confirmed. 

This was definitely not written by Minerva, even if it mentioned her name at the bottom. He had received countless letters in her curly, nearly stately handwriting that couldn’t have been further away from these cramped characters. 

“Where did she give you this?”

“At Hogwarts”. 

“Are you sure?” he asked, “Did she personally hand it to you?”

Billie bit her lip and looked down at the cup in her hands. “No… I held it in my hand, and I don’t know how it got there. That’s one of the blanks in my memory”. 

“You must have received a serious shock if you have such gaps in your memory”. 

Or someone had been tempering with it, he thought, which seemed a lot more likely. He wondered why anyone should have done that. 

“Why do you ask, Francis? Isn’t it her note?”

He hesitated. Whoever had modified her memory probably had a good reason for doing so, and if they sent her to him with the message to study Occlumency, he supposed they meant her no harm. So he’d better not try to bring things back into her mind which that other person had so carefully removed. 

He could think of only one person who had the skill to do so, and that happened to be the only person at Hogwarts who knew about his Occlumency skills… If that was the person involved, then Francis understood perfectly what a difficult position the man was in. 

“The note’s all right,” he said, “I thought for a moment Minerva didn’t know about my Occlumency skills, but I must have been mistaken”. 

Billie wasn’t sure she believed him. In fact, she was quite sure she didn’t, but the next moment, Francis gave her a reassuring smile and she understood that it was probably not very important anyway.

“Just remember not to mention to anyone why you are here, Billie,” he said, “I don’t suppose you were thinking of contacting Minerva?”

“No,” she said with regret, “Getting in touch with Hogwarts will not be possible anymore. You see, two Death Eaters have come to stay at the place. The school is in You-Know-Who’s hands now”. 

“You are wise not to mention his name”, Francis nodded in approval, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he used it to locate his bravest opponents, the ones who openly make a statement by using his name. Who were those Death Eaters anyway?”. 

“I don’t know them. A man and a woman. Alexis and Amico or something”.

“Alecto and Amycus Carrow probably”. 

“Yes, I believe those were the names”.

Francis nodded. “And Snape? Was he at Hogwarts too?”

As usual Billie received a slight shock at the mentioning of Severus’s name, which was immediately followed by a feeling of sadness. 

“No, he wasn’t there,” she said. The last time she had seen him was in the cave, under different circumstances, and that memory still caused her pain. 

That seemed most curious to Francis, but he could tell that she was not lying. There was clearly something about Snape that she was not telling him and he didn’t have to use his legilimency skills to know that it was something personal. He began to understand why Severus wanted her to study Occlumency.

“Anyway,” he said as he pushed back his chair and came to his feet. “It’s getting late and the animals still need to be looked after. Would you like to join me?”

“Yes, of course”, said Billie, glad that they could leave the topic of their conversation for a while. 

“Excellent”, said Francis, leading the way through the backdoor that opened up into a wide outdoor space of fenced meadows, woods and a small river that ran through it “The deer are all right, but the cows and chickens need to be looked after”. 

“Do you have deer and cows?” said Billie delighted 

“Oh, I have much more, you know. The birds are in those cages over there” The cages he pointed out to her were in fact two meadows, including trees, that were completely fenced and covered with a huge combination of wires and bars, and in which tens of different species were flying and hopping around.

“The cats, dog, sheep and chickens run into the open of course, together with the rats and mice” he continued, “And so do the deer, wild boars and pheasants in the woods over there. I only keep the cows and the horses fenced. And the bees and ants live in their colonies of course”.

“But how can you take care of the deer if they’re out in the wild?” asked Billie, “You don’t really keep them then”. 

“Oh but I do, dear lady. We have a bond that does not have to be established with wires and fences. You watch”. 

And then she understood that he was no ordinary farmer, and that his animagus skills probably didn’t come from just anywhere either. He was clearly not living amongst animals to breed them for slaughter or for the production of milk.

He opened the door to the barn and let her in. 

“I’m feeding them indoors,” he explained, “They’re having the hay that I keep in the attic, but bringing that down without a bit of magic has become too heavy for me”. When he caught her quizzical look he said “I never use magic outdoors. We do have the occasional passer-by, you know, hikers and such, and I don’t suppose there are many wizards amongst them… So better not draw their attention to things that seem strange to them. Oh, here they are. They have heard us”. 

Billie followed his gaze to the meadow outside and to her delight saw three magnificent animals walking towards them with long, chestnut hair and enormous horns. 

“West-Highland cows,” Francis smiled as he waved a pile of hay down from the attic, “A souvenir I brought from Scotland, but they like the Ardennes at least as much as the far north, especially in winter”. 

“They’re beautiful!” exclaimed Billie, “Oh, and there’s a calf too!”. 

A snow-white calf that was so small it had completely been obscured by the big ones came darting forward and stuck its nose in the hay; not to eat it, apparently, but to throw it up in the air and play with it.

“Imagine you turned into one of those, eh” said Francis, “How pretty you would look”

“Yes, but it wouldn’t be very helpful in the task I’m setting myself”, smiled Billie. 

“No…” Francis agreed, “Now on to the chickens. You’re lucky it’s summer, by the way. The cows live outside most of the time, so you won’t have to clean out the barn. Unless you stay until winter of course”.

“Would I need that long to learn it?”

He cast her a sideways glance. “I’m not sure. If you want to combine it with Occlumency, you will probably need more time even. Both arts are extremely difficult”.

“We haven’t spoken about the arrangements” Billie suddenly brought up as they were leaving the meadow and making their way towards a small shelter that contained a  couple of containers, “What do you normally charge for such a training, and the accomodation?”. 

“You make it sound as if this were a boarding school”, Francis laughed, “Don’t worry. We will come to that. I charge a little for the food but I don’t want to be paid for the lessons or the lodging. If you are prepared to help me a little with the animals that is”. 

“Of course,” said Billie, “I wouldn’t want it any other way. Besides, being amongst animals is the most relaxing thing I can think of”. 

“Well I’m not too sure about that,” said Francis, “You see, becoming an animagus is a lot more intensive than learning a spell and a flick of the wand. You will need most of your time to get familiar with, understand and <i>become</i> an animal. Believe me, that is a lot more complicated than it sounds”. 

He took off the lid from one of the containers and filled a small bucket with grains. “Put that lid back on, will you. Now where are the chickens? Would you mind walking to the back of the house? You’ll find them there. Meanwhile I’ll be at the horse stables”. 

Billie didn’t need much time to locate the ten hens and the beautiful rooster that came speeding towards her at the sound of the grains in the bucket. She threw several handfuls of grains that were instantly picked by them. The little job reminded her of her youth at her grandparents’ farm in the Ardèche.

When she had finished feeding the hens, she walked to the stables where two heavily-built horses stood waiting for Francis, who was still filling their food bags. 

“Could you fill up their water?” he asked her, “There’s a hose in that corner over there”. 

“What breed are they?” asked Billie as she walked to where he had indicated, “They’re draft horses, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they’re Belgians”, said Francis and he laughed when he saw her surprised look. “Des chevaux de trait brabançon. Fantastic animals. I’m one of them”.

“Really? Is that what you become?”

“<i>Who </i>I become, “ he corrected her, “Watch me,” and in instants, he had tranformed into an older, but still magnificent chestnut horse.

“Great eh?” he grinned as soon as he had turned into himself again. “That’s why I live so remotely. Didn’t want to be captured and connected to a plough by some farmer. And not much other use I am in that form either”.

“Is that why you became a teacher?” asked Billie.

“Yes. I teach transfiguration. The animagus bit is kept for special purposes and only in the seclusion of this farm. Have you found the hens? Good… then I think we should call it a day. I’m not sure how tired you are, but I make it a habit to rise and turn in with the chickens, which makes me hyperactive in summer and a lazy bastard in winter”. 

Billie laughed. 

“Not that I’m going to force you to get up at sunrise too, you know” he said somewhat to her relief, “You look as if you can do with a good night’s rest”. 

“I’m quite tired,” Billie admitted, and that was putting it very tentatively. She was absolutely knackered and her head was killing her, like it had done since the Carrows had attacked her. Or at least, for as far as she could remember. 

“Yes, I can see that,” Francis said as he carefully examined her face, in which the bruises and scratches were still slightly visible. She looked as if she had been attacked, the poor thing. There was a certain sadness about her as well. But he thought it would be indiscrete to ask her about that after just a couple of hours they had met, so he just added, “The fresh forest air will do you good. I’m sure you will feel a lot better after a couple of days”. 

 

He showed her to a small attic room where she would spend the next months. It was rather shabbily furbished and it could do with some good cleaning too, but the positive thing was that it had a mini en-suite bathroom with shower and toilet and for Billie that was an immense luxury. The thing she needed most was privacy, and a good shower after two days of travelling in the same clothes. 

“You should have all you need in here”, said Francis, “Be careful with the hot water, though. It doesn’t last much longer than a couple of minutes”. 

So that was that for the long, relaxing shower…

“Thank you,” she said “I’m sure I will be very comfortable here”. And then she thought about the instructions she had been given. “Do you know if there is a doctor I could see in the village tomorrow?”

“A doctor?” he frowned, “Yes, there’s two of them. Anything I can help you with?”

“No, I have an injury that should be looked after,” she said rather uncomfortably. “It’s probably nothing, but Minerva advised me to have it examined”.

“Well in that case, I had better take you to the hospital in Charleville. Or the small one just across the border, that’s even better. You can be x-rayed there if you like”. 

“That would be more than sufficient,” Billie said gratefully. 

“Are you sure you don’t need to go now?”

“No, I’m quite all right. As I said, I don’t expect it to be anything serious. It’s just to be on the safe side”. 

“Very well. I will leave you in peace then. Bonne nuit”. 

“Bonne nuit, Francis,” she said “Et merci”. 

 

The moment the door had closed behind him, Billie went to the bathroom and started to rummage in the little cupboards she found there. There was a used cloth that could both serve as a duster, and, if she fastened it to the broom she had found, as a sweeper. 

Fortunately, the rooms were very small, so that barely an hour had passed before the shower, toilet and washing table stood shining again, and the window sill, wardrobe and floor completely free of dust. The sheets looked quite clean, and that was a relief, but she shook them out of the window anyway. 

After that, she undressed, stepped under the shower before it had reached its ideal temperature, and carefully rubbed herself with shower gel. The bruise on her belly was still sensitive, but she had the impression it was gradually changing its colour to yellow. 

By the time all soap had disappeared through the drain, the water had become ice cold, so with clattering teeth, she summoned the bath towel towards her and wrapped herself in it. Then she brushed her teeth, pulled on her pijamas and with a deep sigh of relief let herself fall into the soft mattress. 

She was asleep in seconds.  

And then the dreams came. 

The horrible, wicked face of Amycus appeared before her eyes and next, she was running her legs off in an effort to escape the enormous whip he was cracking behind her. But then she stumbled and fell and the next moment she was sitting up straight in her bed, heavily breathing and covered in sweat.

She took a few moments to regain her composure. She didn’t immediately dare to lay down again, but at the same time she felt so exhausted she wanted to go back to sleep anyway. So she switched on the little lamp on the bedside table and closed her eyes. 

She was instantly in deep sleep and dreaming again. This time, she was standing very close to Severus Snape who was fondly looking at her and telling her she was safe. But the next instant, his face disappeared and she was lying on the ground with Alecto and her brother hovering above her, their faces twisted in hatred. Amycus was holding a heavy candlestick in his hands which he was slowly lifting up. Billie started to scream and tried to roll away from him, but was blocked by Alecto’s claws that were painfully grabbing her arms and holding her to the ground. The candlestick came closer and closer and just as it was going to hit her full in the face, she woke up with a start again, but felt she couldn’t move in the real world either. 

And then she saw that Francis was holding her by the arms, his eyes wide in shock. 

“Billie, Billie…! Wake up. For God’s sake, girl, what’s the matter with you?”

Again, she was shaking and sweating with her breath coming in gasps, but this time, tears were streaming down her face too. She still saw the candlestick coming down towards her, and at the same time felt a strange longing and sadness that she couldn’t really place and which sent the tears down her cheeks. It took a long while before she finally calmed down.

“I’m sorry...” she whispered, fumbling with an unclean handkerchief he had pushed into her hands “Did I wake you up?”

“Not just me. The cows and the horses too I think”. He sounded light-hearted but there was deep concern in the old eyes that rested on her.

“You have been assaulted, haven’t you?”. 

She nodded, and for absolutely no reason was suddenly ashamed of herself.

“Will you tell me what happened?”

But she remained silent. She really couldn’t bring herself to describing what she had been through. 

“Did it happen on your way here…? No?... At Hogwarts? Those two Death Eaters you told me about?”

She nodded. 

So she had been assaulted by two Death Eaters she had identified as the Carrows; Snape had not been at the school, but after the assault, he had written a note, pushed it into her hands and modified her memory without taking away the traumatic experience of the assault itself, despite the fact that he was thick with the Dark One and his followers.

Francis had to admit that he couldn’t make head or tail of this, but he supposed all would become clearer in the next days or weeks. 

The black sheepdog Lazarus walked into the room, enthusiastically wagging his tail, and lay his enormous head on the side of the bed where Francis was sitting.

The dog had a much more soothing effect on the tormented Billie than any human could have. Digging her fingers in his soft fur and looking into his happy snout nearly made her forget the bad dreams she had had. 

“Would you like to keep him here?” asked Francis who was witnessing the scene in wonder, “He can keep you company if you like”. 

The prospect of having someone with her during the rest of the night, even if it was only a dog, was not the most unattractive one she could think of. 

“Yes, I’d very much like that,” she said, “Do you mind?”

“Of course I don’t. And he won’t mind either, will you boy?”

As if he could pefectly understand what his master was saying, the dog started to wag his tail again and looked as if he was measuring the bed’s height so that he could make the perfect jump. 

Francis rose to his feet. “Are you sure you will manage?” he asked, “Or shall I give you a sleeping draught?”

“I have one with me, thanks” said Billie, suddenly remembering the flask she had found in her bag on her way here. She had no idea where it had come from, but she had recognised it as a very strong potion.

“Well then you had better take some”, said Francis. Then he stooped to scratch Lazarus behind his ear and walked to the door. “If there’s anything I can do for you let me know. I’m in the room just underneath this one”. 

“Thank you. I will remember it”.

“Good,” he said , “Eh bien. Bonne nuit”. 

“Bonne nuit, Francis,”. 

After he had left, she looked into the dog’s happy brown eyes. Her nostrils caught a light whiff of doggish smell. 

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do first,” she said to him, “I would serve you an anti-flea potion but I don’t have any ingredients. But I do know a spell that could send them away”. 

The dog was eyeing her with tremendous admiration as if she had been declaring her unconditional and eternal love to him.

“Pulexicis evanesca”, she whispered. 

A beam flashed out of her wand and engulfed the dog in a golden glow. There was a crackling sound and a slightly scorching smell and the glow disappeared in a whiff of smoke. 

“Oh dear. I think I have burnt them” said Billie. “Anyway, I suppose you’re OK now. Come”. 

She didn’t even have to pat on the bed to urge him. Before she had stretched her hand, the dog had jumped on the bed and found himself a comfortable spot against her knees to rub his back against. 

He questioningly cocked his ears when she got out of the bed to take her bag and the flask with the sleeping draught. 

As she was grabbing to take it out, however, her fingers closed around another, much smaller bottle and when she took it out, a strange sight met her. The flask was completely invisible. 

It was a very strange thing to be holding a bottle that wasn’t even there. She wondered what it was doing there and why it was invisible. 

She took out her wand and tapped it to undo the charm. 

It was a small, crystal flask with a silver cork on it that at first sight seemed empty, but when Billie looked a little closer, she saw a misty content floating in it. 

She sat down on the bed and racked her brain for a possible explanation for its presence, but she couldn’t think of anything. It definitely wasn’t a potion or any other liquid. It could be a valuable thing and that was probably the reason why she had made it invisible so that it wouldn’t be found by the wrong people. 

She wondered if it was dangerous. Her fingers closed around the cork but she couldn’t really bring herself to opening it. What if it exploded; or escaped…? 

So she merely sat looking at it from all sides for a long while and then concluded that that wouldn’t make her any wiser. So she turned it invisible again and carefully slid it back into the small pouch in her bag. 

She would look into the matter sometime later. 

Then she took a gulp from the sleeping draught and went back to bed. 

 

The nightmares didn’t come back, but all through her sleep, snatches of dreams passed that she couldn’t remember the next day, but that gave her a feeling of comfort and being taken care of as long as they lasted. When she awoke, however, they left her so lonely and unhappy and longing for something that she couldn’t even define, that she turned into her pillow and started to cry, which made a bewildered Lazarus crawl closer to her and nuzzle against her wet face.


	2. Part III Chapter 2

2

 

When she came down into the kitchen the next morning, with Lazarus in the lead and a slight headache again, she noticed that Francis had left some breakfast on the table for her, but she decided to first look for him and apologise for the disturbance she had caused in the night. 

She found him amongst the sheep in the meadow. Lazarus was so delirious to see his master that he sped forwards and jumped up at him with such force, that he nearly caused the old man to fall over. 

“You stupid dog, I haven’t been out of the country now have I” the old man growled good-naturedly as he scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Wonder when you will ever grow up and behave”. 

Then his eyes fell on the girl at the fence, “Hello Billie. You’re up early aren’t you. Did this fellow look after you in the night or did he cause even more nightmares?”

“No,” she laughed, “He was lovely. Thank you for leaving him with me. And sorry about last night”. 

“Not to worry, not to worry…” he said as he opened the gate and walked towards her, “That was quite a dream you were having wasn’t it? But let’s not think too much about it on a day like this. Have you had any breakfast yet? No? Well then I’ll join you for a cup of coffee while you eat”. 

“You have been quite busy already,” Billie remarked as they walked towards the house together, “I smelled fresh bread in the kitchen”. 

“Yes,” he smiled, “Soft way of waking up when you’re kneading dough with the sounds of early birds around you at sunrise. Best thing there is”. 

They stepped into the kitchen that was now covered in sunlight. Billie couldn’t help noticing the dust layer on all furniture and how dirty the windows were. She wondered how she could offer to clean them without sounding too rude.

“So you wanted to visit the hospital today, right?” He asked as he poured them both coffee and lowered himself on the rickety chair opposite her.

“Yes, please. Is it far?”

“Only a couple of miles. You could walk there if you like, but you have to be fit enough to climb the hill. Do you think you could do that?”

“I think so. I walked quite a bit yesterday too”. 

“True. Did you say you came straight from Hogwarts?”

Billie nodded. “I took the ferry Minerva had booked for me and then the train down here”. 

“And Hogwarts is where you have been assaulted?”

She looked down at her cup and nodded.

“Is the hospital going to ask any awkward questions, do you think?” she asked. 

“Oh yes,” said Francis, “They might even offer to call the police for you”. 

“Why should they do that? I’m an adult, aren’t I? I may as well have had an accident”. 

“They can probably tell the difference between injuries from an accident and the ones from physical violence from a mile’s distance”, said Francis. “If you insist on being discrete about your assaulters I would blame some obscure husband if I were you. You’re not married are you?”

“No,” said Billie. “Do you think they will let the police out of it if I claim my partner did this?”

“Probably. Especially if he’s still in Britain”.

“Good, then I suppose I will come up with that story”. 

“But why did they do this to you?” asked Francis, “It was the Carrows, right?”

“Yes,” said Billie, “And only because I’m muggle born. There’s no other reason they could have had”. 

Francis gave a short whistle through his teeth. “So things are a lot worse than I had feared in Britain. It does remind me of the old days, just before I flew to France”. 

“According to the Weasleys it’s a lot worse”, said Billie, “He now has all the power he didn’t have then to control our world. Nowhere is safe anymore”. 

“Not even here,” agreed Francis, “Sooner or later, they will make use of their international network to get a grip on the whole wizarding world. It’s a good thing you didn’t wait too long to come here for those lessons. I really hope you have the talent”. 

“I hope so too. When can we start practising?”

“Whenever you are ready for it and by that I mean that you should be strong enough, both physically and mentally, which is definitely not going to be today. I want you to visit that hospital first, and spend some time enjoying this place and the animals, until you’re fit enough to start”. 

“I can’t just be here doing nothing,” protested Billie, “That would make me feel guilty. Could I make myself useful with a few domestic tasks like… you know… tidying up a little?”

“Well that’s not a bad idea. Of course you can” and he rose to his feet, “Now if you’re ready I’ll show you where the path is that will take you straight to the next village and the hospital”.

 

After a beautiful walk that took Billie up a steep hill and through a century-old forest, she came at a sombre-looking building at the edge of a little village. 

All sorts of people were walking in and out, carrying flowers and presents, some broadly smiling, others looking worried. 

At the entrance door stood a couple of men in pijamas having a smoke, one of them holding a rack with a serum bag and another one with his head and both arms nearly completely bandaged. Billie wondered a little cynically if he had walked into a couple of Death Eaters too. 

A little nervous, she approached herself to the counter and asked if she could make an appointment for an x-ray. 

A lady whose smile was displaying far too many teeth to her taste took down her details, but hesitated when she saw her passport. 

“Vous êtes Anglaise?” she asked, looking up to have a better look at the girl from over the rim of her reading glasses. 

Billie nodded. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all. But you will have to fill out a couple of forms before you can go up to the radiology department. You can use the table over there if you like”. 

Billie took out her pen and went to sit at the table that was pointed out to her. 

As she was filling out all sorts of personal data, she suddenly became aware of a strange conversaton that was taking place in French between a nurse and a cleaning lady, who stood chatting at a few paces from where she was sitting.

“… strangest injuries I have ever seen. It was as if he was burnt from the inside”. 

“Yes, and did you notice that ugly tattoo on his lower arm?” 

The nurse shivered. “I thought for a moment that snake was moving. It looked so real”. 

“Creepy type. Not sure we should keep him here. I’m not comfortable when I have to clean his room”. 

“Nor I when I have to nurse him. He has these freaky eyes and the way he’s leering at me gives me the shivers. I’m not sure they shouldn’t keep him in the psychiatric ward”. 

“Yes well, let’s hope he’s recovered soon and out of here. Wouldn’t be surprised if he were a murderer of some sort”.

And with that the ladies walked away. 

Billie’s heart had switched over to a higher speed. It wasn’t a hundred percent sure that the ladies had been discussing a Death Eater who was staying here, but the resemblance was striking. 

But what should a Death Eater be doing here in a little village in a remote part of France, or rather Belgium, where noone had ever heard of a person called Voldemort?

Her hands were shaking with the panic that had taken possession of her and for a moment, she had to surpress the impulse to get up and leave. 

But then she told herself to keep calm. Noone knew who she was or why she was here. Furthermore, the Death Eater sounded as if he was in a poor state and definitely not fit enough to chase her and attack her. 

No, the most important thing for her was to have herself examined, as Minerva had told her to do, and go back to Francis’ house to study the things she wanted to learn as soon as possible. Then she could take care of her own protecton, hopefully by taking the shape of an inconspicious animal and by blocking her mind against intruders. 

She finished the last of the forms and walked back to the reception desk with them. 

 

An hour later, she came back to the small cubicle where her clothes were lying and started to dress. 

The doctor had frowned when he had seen the traces of all the bruises and cuts she still had on her belly, and especially the big one that had caused her to come and see him. He had carefully examined her abdomen, and then taken a scan. It was hard to see if the left ovary or her womb were damaged, but the haemorrhage was definitely serious. So he advised her to wait and see how her cycle would evolve, and come back for further examination.  

“You have been lucky,” he said, “It could have been a lot worse, although it’s too early to conclude that everything will be all right. What did you say has happened to you?”

“I was attacked by my boyfriend… well… ex-boyfriend I should say. I left him”. 

“Did you flee the country for him? Or is it a coincidence that you should be here now?”

“I’m staying with relatives here,” she said, “But it's true that he’s still in the UK. And I don’t intend to go back to him, of course”. 

“That’s what you say now. I have seen more than one case of abused women who went back to their partner after some time anyway”. 

“Well, that’s definitely not my intention. I’m done with him”. 

The doctor nodded. “I would still advise you to seek the advice of a specialist,” he said, “We have an organisation here that is taking care of victims of physical violence. Shall I pass you the details?”

“Oh, but I don’t think that will be necessary”. 

“On the contrary. A trauma can have a serious impact on your mental health, even many years after the events occurred. I strongly advise you to get in touch with them”. 

Billie reluctantly accepted the little card that showed the name of a Health & Well-Being organisation with a bleeding heart in its logo, and pocketed it. Then she got to her feet, relieved that the interview was over and eager to get out of this building and back in the safety of Francis’ house.The doctor hesitated when she shook hands with him. She did look determined and quite an independent and intelligent woman, but injuries of this kind were not caused by mistake. Even if she didn’t go back to that madman, nothing proved that she would be safe for him here. 

Still, he couldn’t really think of a reason to keep her there, and so he opened the door to let her out. 

“Take good care of yourself, Miss Matthews,” he said “and do call those people. It’s what they exist for” . 

To Billie’s enormous irritation, tears came back in her eyes at these kindly spoken words and she quickly made herself out of the way. 

 

She didn’t enjoy the walk back as much as she had done before. She was worried about her condition of course, but apart from that, the thought of a Death Eater staying at just a couple of miles from there was highly unsettling, and with it came a fear that made her uncomfortable as soon as she had left the village and its hospital behind. 

She wasn’t the kind of paranoid person who expected burglars to jump out from behind trees when she walked through a forest, or thought that every stranger was a potential danger, but this time, she caught herself peering through the trees with every step she took. And whenever a bird flew up or another sudden forest sound caught her ears she started. 

As she moved deeper and deeper into the forest and up the hill, she heard a strange sound in the distance, but this time it wasn’t a bird or the wind she was hearing. 

She stopped at once and for a moment stood motionless. 

She heard it again. Voices… or… rather a scream! 

She instinctively took out her wand. Her first reaction was one of utmost terror. The scream instantly brought her back to Hogwarts and the Carrows and all the violence they had exercised on her. But then her heart went out to the person, most probably a woman, who was screaming somewhere ahead of her in the forest. She couldn’t leave it at that.  

With a heart racing like mad and shaking limbs she stepped away from the path and entered the forest, being very careful not to break any twigs or make any other noises that could draw the attention to her presence. 

She was in an area where pine trees had been planted, so that the moment she left the path she was instantly covered in semi-darkness. Again the scream sounded, and this time, she could better locate where it came from. It wasn’t very far off in any case. 

A thick carpet of needles and moss covered her footsteps as she carefully made her way towards the noise. She could clearly hear voices now too. A man’s voice. But the scream had definitely been a woman’s.

The pine trees made way for beeches and birches and that was not a bad thing. Patches of sunlight fell on the scrubs and ferns, which made the forest less threatening, and the low plants that were growing at the trees’ trunks provided a perfect cover. 

She was very close now. The voices were clearly distinguishable. There were two men, she thought, and then she heard a woman sob. 

She dived behind a blackberry bush when a small group of people came into sight. 

The two men she had heard were standing with her back towards her. From where she was peering through the leaves, she couldn’t see where the woman was, but Billie thought she had to be facing them. 

As she sat there, she was feverishly searching for the best way to help her. The men were speaking in a language she didn’t understand but it was more than obvious that they were up to no good. Now that they had their backs towards her, she had an advantage over them, so hexing them would definitely be an option but she had to be careful not to reveal any magic in the presence of muggles. 

She was still thinking about the best spell to use, when one of them made a sudden move and disappeared from the limited view she had. She carefully shoved up a little and to her horror saw the hospital’s cleaning lady tied to a tree and the man fumbling with the front of her blouse. 

Billie’s wand instantly went up and before the men had had the chance to become aware of her presence, a silently spoken body-bind curse made both men instantly freeze and drop to the ground, under the astonished eyes of the woman at the tree. Then Billie quickly transfigured a branch into a fake revolver – a trick McGonnagle had taught her students - because it was useful if you had to defend yourself in the presence of muggles- and jumped out from behind the blackberry bush. 

“Don’t move,” she rather unnecessarily shouted, trying hard to suppress all tremor in her voice. 

Both men were lying on the ground as stiff as if they had turned into ice. They weren’t even able to move their eyes towards the person who had attacked them. 

Billie had no idea how long a body-bind curse lasted, but decided not to take any risks. She rushed towards the tied-up woman and with trembling fingers started to untie the ropes that kept her in place. 

After a couple of long minutes the knots came loose and the woman was able to wriggle herself free. She was heavily sobbing. 

“It’s all right,” Billie kept on repeating to her as she was helping her out of the mass of ropes, “You’re safe. Now run away! Quickly! The path’s over there. I’ll take care of those two”. 

The poor woman wanted to utter some form of thanks but the sounds got stuck in her throat. 

“Never mind,” said Billie urgently, “Come on, hurry!” And with a little push, she sent the woman in the direction of the path, away from the scene where she would very soon have been the victim of a rape. 

 

With a face twisted in hatred, Billie turned around to face the two men who were still lying paralysed on the ground. 

They both looked horrific. 

One had extremely short-cropped hair, a rather fat face with piggy-little eyes, a nose that hinted at regularly heavy drinking and a not very attractive mouth either, a spider tattoo in his neck and a heavy built that made his striped T-Shirt and jeans look too tight. The other one was long and thin, with greyish filthy hair; a single eyebrow that ran across both eyes; a pale, shallow face and a stained, black shirt that he wore in a rather grubby jeans. 

Billie’s eyes automatically went to the lower arms but there were no tatoos or dark marks there, so whatever they were, they were no Death Eaters. 

When she was sure the woman had disappeared from view, she took out the wand she had safely tucked away in her jacket and thick ropes appeared from nowhere, that wound themselves around the upper bodies of the two men. 

As soon as the men were tied together and their arms safely tucked away in the mass of ropes, Billie pointed her wand at their foreheads and whispered the confundus charm she had been practising in the last months. The best option would have been to wipe their memories altogether, but she had never learnt how to do it and preferred to keep things as they were too. She knew from experience what a failing memory felt like. It wasn’t a thing she very frequently wanted to cause with an opponent. 

“You will believe that a gang of villagers attacked you and tied you up. As soon as you can move again, you will try to get up and walk back to the village”, she told them. 

She sincerely hoped her confundus charm would work. It was impossibe to know for sure, because their faces were so expressionless that a person unfamiliar with the petrificus totalus-spell would think the men dead. But she supposed she could take the risk.

With a last look to make sure that all was under control, she turned away from them and hurried back to the path. 

 

The woman was nowhere to be seen anymore, which was probably a good sign. For a short while, Billie played with the temptation to take out Snape’s miniature broom and fly back to the house and its safety but that was too risky. Instead, she took a deep breath and started to run. 

 

She was very nearly breathless by the time she emerged from the forest, where the roof of Francis’ house stood gleaming in the distance. But instead of taking the path towards it, she turned right to where the first village houses stood and walked towards the small market square. 

By the time she had reached the telephone box, her breathing was under control again, but her head felt as if it was splitting open. She pushed open the doors and stepped inside. 

The number of the nearest police station was mentioned on a board. She didn’t have to wait long before someone picked up the phone. 

“Allo? J’aimerais dénoncer une agression dans le forêt de Hargnies”. 

The policewoman on the other line took quite a while to understand the seriousness of the situation. She also sounded terribly annoyed at being interrupted by the telephone.

“One moment. What did you say your name was?” 

“Matthews… Billie Matthews. Listen, …”

“And your address?”

“I’ll give that in a moment, but first…”

“Your address, please? Do you have an address in France?”

“Yes, yes of course,” Billie could only just stop herself from stamping her feet in frustration. 

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m staying in Hargnies, wi…”

“Hargnies, you say? Street?”

“I don’t have that here, but look…”

“I must be able to register your coordinates before I can open a file”.

“Yes, but can’t you listen to what had happened first?” Billie sounded exasperated now.

“No. I have to follow the procedures”.

“Well, I don’t have a street name, but check Francis Lejeune and you’ll have the full address”. 

“Lejeune, you say…,” the woman continued in her bored voice, “Fernand?”

“Francis,” Billie corrected her impatiently, “And…”

“One moment, please”. 

It took ages until Billie was finally able to tell her story and even longer to have the woman realise the urgency of the situation and arrange for a car to be sent to the woods. 

After the phone call, Billie hurried back to Francis’ house to inform him about what had happened and to prepare him for the police inquiry that would surely follow. She wasn’t sure he would be very impressed with the visit of two policemen on her very first day at his place.

 

She found him at the back of the house, where he was pulling out leeks and carrots with the assisitance of the rooster and his nine chickens.

Francis listened to her in silence as she recounted all the things that had happened that morning and when she was finished he didn’t immediately speak. Instead he sat thinking, with a worried frown between his eyebrows. 

“I don’t know what to think of it,” he finally said, “Apart from the fact that I think it highly unlikely a Death Eater should stay in a hospital in this forgotten part of the world. Did you say he had been injured?”. 

“Yes, that’s what the nurse said. She said that he looked as if he had been burnt from the inside. Could that be the effect of Flagrantia Fumes?”

“Possibly. But he might as well be a muggle who swallowed some chemical or got himself electrocuted. She may not have been a very experienced nurse”. 

“True. But then there was also his tattoo. It sounded like the Dark Mark”. 

“People wear all sorts of tattoos everywhere, and a snake is not uncommon. I’m not sure that is really saying anything”, said Francis, “Unfortunately, violence is not a privilege of Death Eaters alone. I think that the woman you rescued just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In that case, you have been lucky yourself. It could have been you who crossed their path”. 

“I did cross it,” she said rather cynically, “And I hope my incarcerous spell will be strong enough to keep them tied up until the police arrive”. 

“That was a very brave thing you did. Not sure it was the wisest thing, though. It could have ended badly”. 

Billie shook her head. “With their backs towards me, I could take them completely by surprise so they didn’t stand a chance against me, especially when I used magic on them. That was probably the riskiest thing: using magic in front of muggles and making sure they didn’t notice. <i>If</i> they were muggles, that is”. 

“Be it as it may and muggles or not, this area has never been the scene of any violence before and it’s a disturbing thought that it should have become one now”, said Francis, “This used to be a place where you could leave your door wide open and go out for a walk all day. But not now anymore. After a couple of houses were broken into some weeks ago, I was told to keep the house locked when I’m outside and then I had to call for a locksmith  cos I didn’t even have a key to any of the doors here”.

“Did they catch the burglars?”

“Not really. They arrested the members of a suspicious -looking gang but there was no evidence against them so they had to release them again. It could be the same ones who attacked that woman today”. 

 

And this was confirmed by the police officers who came to visit them a couple of hours after they had had this conversation. The two men Billie had captured had still been struggling with their ropes by the time the police arrived, so arresting them was a piece of cake. The hospital’s cleaning lady had been traced as well and she had given evidence against them. The men had not been unknown to her: one of them was an ex-boyfriend who had turned out rather badly and when he came across her in the hospital that day, he had seen his chance to take his revenge on her for breaking off the relationship. One of his fellow-gang members had immediately agreed to join him, and the rest was old news. 

“You will have to testify too, Miss Matthews”, the eldest police officer said, “Are you willing to do that?”

“Yes, of course”.

“And we have a couple of questions we’d like to put to you,” said the youngest one. He was clearly the more ambitious type, bearing himself and the police cap on his neatly cropped hair with pride and looking rather pleased with himself. “Curious things that the lady reported to us”, he said importantly, “First of all, she said that you had come at her rescue, whereas the two men she accuses of attacking her, reported having been captured by a group of men”. 

“They probably didn’t want to admit it was a woman who defeated them,” said Billie, sounding as self-assured as she could fake. 

“Hm… perhaps. Then Miss Marchand said she was being attacked, very nearly raped, but then all of a sudden, the two men became rigid and fell backwards, as if they had turned to stone, after which you appeared with a gun. You will agree with me that this sudden rigidness, that occurred even before you appeared, is a very curious thing to happen, isn’t it?”. 

With an eyebrow slightly raised, which wouldn’t have made a bad match with one of Snape’s more friendly looks, Billie calmly met the policeman’s smug gaze. 

“Did she say that?” she asked, “I suppose she must have been confused. They were indeed paralysed but that was with fear when they saw me come out of the trees carrying a weapon, well… a fake revolver I should say”. 

“Can we see that weapon?”

She took it out of her bag and lay it between them on the table. 

“Do you always carry fake revolvers with you, Miss Matthews?” the younger policeman asked.

“I do. You see, I have recently been assaulted myself. That’s why I have gone to the hospital today. And since then, I carry this thing with me”.“Assaulted, you say?” the policeman looked as if he had found the very trace that would take him straight to promotion, “Isn’t it coincidal that you should be assaulted yourself and shortly afterwards turn up on a scene of crime in a forest where hardly anyone ever wanders? I have a feeling there is a link”. 

“It is coincidal, yes,” said Billie coolly, “I wasn’t attacked <i>here</i>. It happened in England and my ex boyfriend was the one who did it, and as far as I know he’s still safely tucked away in the UK, because he has no idea I have fled to France”. 

“But what were you doing in that forest at that precise time?”

“I’ve told you. I had been to the hospital, and the path is the shortest way from this house. Look”. 

And before they could stop her, she had pulled off her T-shirt and pointed at the big bruise and the remains of the scratches and other injuries that were still visible on her belly, arms and chest.

The older policeman watched with interest, but the smug one instantly turned a dark shade of red and cast his eyes down to his notebook. 

“It’s all right, Miss Matthews,” he muttered, “I suppose you will be able to show us some evidence of your visit there. Do you remember the doctor’s name?”

“Docteur Lemonnier” she said, putting on her T-shirt again. “This is the card he gave me, because he thought I might need some psychological assistance. I have been a victim myself and when I heard the woman scream in agony I had to do something, because I did not want her to go through the same experience as I had been through. Anyone would have done that”.

“A very noble thought,” said the elder policeman, “but I’m not sure anyone would have done the same. Most people would have run away”. 

“Well then I suppose that is saying a lot about the courage of most people”, she said curtly.

“We are no fans of citizens who take the law into their own hands, Miss Matthews”, said the younger policeman, whose red colour had now turned pinkish again, “You should have informed the police and we would have rescued the woman”. 

“Really? Well, by the time you had arrived, she would have been raped and I don’t  know what else”. 

“Are you insinuating we are slow?” said the younger policeman with a dangerous edge to his voice now. 

“Not at all” she replied coolly, “But I don’t even have a mobile, so how could I have informed you?”

There was clearly no clever answer to that question, so with a look that expressed a slight contempt and incredulity at the fact that a young woman shouldn’t possess a mobile in these times, the younger policeman turned back to his notebook to finish her evidence and shortly afterwards both men rose to leave. 

“May I ask you a question too?” asked Billie when she followed them to the door, “When I was at the hospital, I overheard a conversaton between the cleaning lady and a nurse. They were discussing a suspicious-looking patient – I think they even called him creepy. Could he in any way be involved with the two who later attacked her?”

The two men looked at each other 

“She hasn’t mentioned him to us”, said the elder policeman slowly, “Did she say she knew him?”

“No, she didn’t know him I think. But I thought it was strange that three creepy characters should suddenly pop up at the same time in what I think is a peaceful area”.  

“An interesting thought”, he agreed, “Although we have had our issues in the last months. Still, we could make some inquiries at the hospital, I think. That’s where it all started anyway. Merci et bonne journée, Miss Matthews”.

And with that they stepped into their policevan and drove off.

 

“Right,” said Francis, a couple of hours later, as they were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table, both sipping from a cup of cocoa after the delicious vegetable stew they had enjoyed for their supper. “You have told me what made you think you could be an animagus and what Minerva has noticed when she tried to test you. Did you tell me what your patronus is? Or have you never cast one?”

“I have" That was another thing she had managed to teach herself, "It’s a bird,” said Billie. 

“Any idea what type? Big? Small?”

“A rather small one. Not much larger than a blackbird I think”. 

“So no bird of prey?”

Billie shook her head. 

“Good,” said Francis, “Then I would like you to spend the following days observing the ones I keep in the largest cage outside”. 

“But what if my patronus is not the animal form I will take?”

“Well, we’ll see to that later, but we have to start somewhere. By observing the birds, you should make yourself completely familiar with their conduct, habits, movements… anything that distinguishes them from other birds and animals”. 

“Oh…” she couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. She had hoped they would immediately jump into spells and incantations, but instead of that she would be spending several long and no doubt boring days watching birds.

“It’s the only way, girl,” said Francis, “No, that’s not true. It’s the <i>best</i> way, I should say. Especially in your case. Because your body seems to fight against the transifguration, and because you’re mentally unstable”. 

“<i>Mentally unstable? </i>You make it sound as if I were mad!” she said rather piqued, “I’ve never been called mentally unstable before”

“I mean you’re still coming to terms with a traumatic experience. Of course you’re not mad, or deranged, or mentally weak or anything”, he tutted, “Although the trick with the T-shirt today was probably not perceived as very normal by the younger policeman”. 

Billie shrugged, which still sent a prickling senstation through the shoulder that had been dislocated before. 

“Who cares?” she muttered, “It was the only way to convince them. And it wasn’t as if I was standing naked in front of them, was it”.

“No,” Francis laughed, “but the French gendarmerie in an area like this one is not used to such a sudden display… as opposed to their British colleagues perhaps”.

Billie laughed too now. “I should think it was the opposite. Isn’t France the country of nudist beaches and Je t’Aime Moi Non Plus?”

“Not here, in any case,” he chuckled, “And I’ll tell you something. I think you impressed the younger of the two. Was that your intention?”. 

“I beg your pardon?! If I had known <i>that </i>I would have kept the blasted thing on! I don’t think I want to impress anyone here, least of all a self-conceited copper”.

“Good,” said Francis and he rose from the table, “Then you won’t mind being stuck in a bird cage for a couple of days. From tomorrow morning onwards, the place will be all yours!”

Yes, well… , she thought, at least there she would be out of reach of whoever wanted to take their revenge on her or from a careerists at the police force.


	3. Part III Chapter 3

3

 

Severus Snape opened the door to the Headmaster’s office and entered in deep thought. 

Potter had been spotted at the Ministry, in the company of Granger and Weasley, and was said to have taken some jewel from Umbridge with him.

He had to admit that the boy had guts. Sneaking into the beating heart of Voldemort’s empire, in the presence of a muggle and a downright idiot like Ronald Weasley was already pushing his luck well beyond the boundaries of the reasonable, but snatching a valuable object from under Dolores Umbridge’s nose in the midst of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission and the Wizengamot, where it swarmed with Dementors, and, whilst they were at it, setting a Muggle family free, left even Severus Snape stunned.

His eyes automatically went to the portrait where Dumbledore sat beaming at him. “So you have heard,” he observed.

“Indeed I have!” said Dumbledore happily, “And I don’t suppose he left the Dark Lord very impressed?”

“He is livid” said Severus lowering himself onto the edge of his desk so that his eyes were level with the Dumbledore’s painted ones. “I cannot say I regret not being in charge of security there. His wrath will be unseen”. 

He crossed his arms as a shudder passed over his spine. “Why do you think Potter broke into the Ministry, Albus?” 

“I believe he took something from Dolores Umbridge, did he not?”

Severus nodded. “A golden pendant, or at least that is what Yaxley told me”.

“Could it have been a locket perhaps?” If Dumbledore had beamed before, he was now absolutely radiant with delight and pride. “Severus, I cannot tell you exactly what the importance of that locket is, but it is of the utmost importance now that the sword is in the boy’s possession. The sooner the better. It is a too evil object to be carried for too long”. 

“Yes, well… If you have any idea where Mr Potter might find himself at this very moment, I am sure we could have it delivered in the blink of an eye”. 

“Has he not returned to Grimmauld’s Place?”.

Severus shifted his gaze to where Phineas Nigellus sat cleaning his fingernails. 

“Are you expecting me to answer that?” the former Slytherin Headmaster snarled, “How should I know? The mud… Granger girl keeps me in her bag nowadays. I cannot see more than the occasional glimpse of light when she opens it to take something out”. 

“And has she taken anything out recently?” asked Dumbledore with interest.

“A tent, so I suppose they are camping somewhere, and most probably not at Grimmauld’s Place”. 

“That could be correct,” said Severus, “Yaxley disapparated together with them to Grimmauld’s Place, which means that the secret-keeping is destroyed. The place is probably crowded with Death Eaters now. And Granger, Weasley and Potter disapparated again immediately afterwards. They escaped”. 

“And now they are on the loose,” said Dumbledore thoughtfully, “I see… Well, we can only hope Miss Granger’s exceptional magical skills will keep them protected from snatchers and other parties chasing them. Phineas, may I ask you to closely listen to any place they may mention in their conversation that could give us an idea of where they find themselves?”

Phineas nodded rather reluctantly before he concentrated on his fingernails again. 

Dumbledore looked back at the younger man opposite him. 

“There is not much more we can do now, Severus. How is the new schoolyear proceeding?”

“No open rebellion yet, but it is latent. No doubt the Carrows will have their hands full suppressing it when it breaks out. Already, Longbottom is sticking his neck out, which I must admit is not a thing I had expected from him”.

“You <i>will</i> keep an eye on the Carrows, will you not, Severus? The incident with Miss Matthews has shown us what they are capable of”

“They are capable of much worse, to be honest”, said Severus, “Miss Mathews was lucky I interrupted them. But naturally, I will make sure they do not harm our beloved students too much”

“Have you received any news from Miss Matthews?”

“No… That would have been impossible anyway. She cannot contact me here, nor can she be in touch with any of her friends in Britain and if she could, then I would never know of course. I am not on friendly terms with any of them...” He sighed and got to his feet, “… or with anyone at all. Minerva is openly choosing the students’ side under my very nose. If she exaggerates, I will have to reprimand her of course”.

Dumbledore smiled “I am sure you will perfectly know how to handle her in a convincing way. Well, I might go back to a little nap, I think”. 

“I might do the same,” said Severus checking his watch, “Phineas, please let me know at once if you have any news on their location”. 

But the portrait didn’t respond. After having cleaned his fingernails, Phineas Nigellus had walked over to Dylis Derwint’s portrait, where he was having a hushed and apparently very private conversation with its flamboyant inhabitant.

 

The stonefloor in Francis’ kitchen was not the most pleasant thing to fall flat on one’s back on, but at least it was cool enough to prevent Billie from fainting altogether. For the upmost time she was lying on it, squirming, as if she wanted to wriggle herself free from the agonising pain her insides were causing. 

“It’s no use, “ she panted as she cautiously crawled into a sitting position and let her painful back rest against the chest of drawers. “No use at all”. 

“I wouldn’t say that,” said Francis, stretching a hand towards her to help her on her feet again, “If I may comment on what I see, I would say I’m witnessing the last convulsions of a counterattacking, but at the same time despairing body”. 

“Really?” She didn’t attempt to hide the sarcasm in her voice as she sat rubbing her painful stomach, “And what will be next when it succumbs altogether? Death?”

“Possibly, but not very likely,” Francis said in earnest, “I have never known anyone to die at this stage, if the incantation is properly performed that is”.

“Well, it doesn’t look as if mine was properly performed, does it?”

“I’m not sure. But I have an idea”. 

“You’re not going to put me back into that cage again, are you? I spent a whole week in there!”. 

“No… not at all,” he smiled, “Why don’t we try the incantation together? It might not be hindered by the opposition your own body is arising against it if I am involved”. 

“It didn’t work with Minerva”. 

“No, but your body was much stronger then. It has now lost a lot of its resistance. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gave in straight away”.

“Not today,” said Billie decidedly, “I’ve had enough. Why don’t I make ourselves a cup of tea instead? We still have that apple pie I baked yesterday”. 

“Good idea,” said Francis, always in the mood for a sweet morsel of some sort, and he sat down at the table. “So what did the lady have to say… you know, the one you were chatting with at the gate this morning?”

“Oh, that was the cleaning lady I helped in the woods the other day. She wanted to thank me”. 

“Really? How did she find you back? You haven’t heard of her since then, have you?”

“No. She had asked the policemen for my address but they had refused to give it to her. Dunno why, though. Anyway, she recognized me when she saw me in the garden”. 

“They probably still fear revenge from the attackers. They might force it out of her in one way or the other”. 

“But they’re locked up! They can’t force anything out of her unless she visits them in their cells, for which she would have to be completely mad”. 

“No, but we still don’t know for sure that they don’t have anything to do with the gang that is terrorising this area nowadays. And don’t forget that this Death Eater, or whatever he was, is still on the loose. It can’t be a coincidence that he escaped from the hospital, the moment the police started to make enquiries about the two attackers”. 

“No… I have been thinking the same”. In fact, it had hardly left her mind, but she didn’t want to bother Francis too much with her fears. To drag him from his sleep as rudely as she had done a couple of times in the last weeks was already embarrassing enough as such. 

“In any case, you should be safe here. I have increased the protection around the house and don’t underestimate Lazarus. I wouldn’t want to be in any trespassing Death Eater’s trousers. As long as you don’t go out alone, or undisguised, I don’t think many men can trace you and harm you”. 

“I should go out, though. I need lacewing flies for my polyjuice potion-antidote. At least that work is progressing well. I wonder if I shouldn’t stick to potions in the first place, and forget about all the rest altogether”. 

“Your transfiguration skills and your defensive jinxes have dramatically improved, Billie. There’s a lot we can say about the last weeks, but not that you have idly been sitting on your bum. I think you could easily stand up against most opponents now, if you learn to push your fears aside, that is”. 

“Still mentally weak am I”, she sniffed. “Perhaps I should pay a visit to that shrink after all”.

“I doubt that person will be able to help you, especially since you can’t be open about the reason for your trauma”. He sat a while chewing his apple cake in thoughts, “I have been thinking about something, Billie. Do you remember what Sev… Minerva asked you to learn here, apart from animagus transfiguration?”

“Occlumency?”

“Yes, well… your body’s resistance to anigamus transfiguration could also hint at a strong mental barrier you have to overcome. And if your mind is capable of such strong resistance, then you would be in the perfect position to become a first-class Occlumens. Maybe we should try that first. What do you think?”

“Am I likely to be sent flying through the room again when we practise, or is it a more peaceful skill to learn?”

“It’s definitely less harmful,” laughed Francis, “The only risk you run is that I get an insight in your deepest secrets, or you in mine. But we have a handy tool that can help us remove the most intimate thoughts from our consciousness before we start”.

“And which tool is that?”

“The possibility to temporarily transfer thoughts to a bottle or a pensieve”. 

Billie raised her eyebrows. “Can we do that?” 

There wasn’t much she had to hide but she could think of a couple of intimate moments she had shared with Fred which she didn’t really want to make public. “What’s a pensieve, by the way?”

“A basin in which you can visit your, or someone else’s thoughts. Wait, I’ll show you”. 

He got up from his chair and shuffled to the far corner of the kitchen where a crook was standing, which he hooked into a panel in the ceiling to unfold an attic stair. 

“Careful, Francis. Shall I go up for you?” Billie offered. 

“I’m not going up, don’t worry. <i>Accio Pensieve!</i>”. 

And the next moment, he caught a stone basin in his hands which he placed on the table between them. 

“Now let’s see if I can think of a pleasant thought to share”, his eyes caught the sleeping Lazarus in his basket, “Well, yes, why not this one”. 

He closed his eyes, put his wand against his temple and pulled out a long silvery string, which he dropped into the stone basin. 

Billie had a feeling she had seen such  a thing before, but she couldn’t recall when or where. Her memory was still as poor as it had been when she arrived here. 

“Just follow my example,” he said, plunging his head into the stone basin. 

Billie looked into the swirling contents in the bowl and hesitated for a moment. But then she felt an irresistible attraction coming from it and moved a little closer. Next, before she knew it, her head had disappeared into the basin too and to her horror, she fell and fell, until she softly landed in a puddle of rain, at the edge of a dark forest. 

She took a moment to recover and looked around. 

Rain came pouring down on her, but to her surprise she didn’t feel any drops and when she looked down to inspect her clothes, she noticed that they were still as dry as they had been in the kitchen room. Left of her stood Francis and a little ahead of them walked another man, with the same build and length as her landlord.

“Come,” said Francis. 

They followed the man into the forest, until they were completely surrounded by trees and bushes that blocked away most of the fading daylight. 

“Who is he?” Billie asked in a low voice

Francis smiled. “There’s no need to whisper. He can’t hear us. That’s me by the way”. 

“Oh…” She began to understand a little of how this worked and with it, a strange feeling of excitement took possession of her. For no particular reason at all, she felt she was going to like this pensieve. 

The Francis ahead of them stopped when their ears caught a whimpering sound. He took a while to locate where it came from and then turned to the right, deeper into the woods.

In the half-darkness a couple of yards further on, he stopped again and then lowered himself on his heels. From this distance, it was impossible for Billie to see what he was looking at.

“Let’s move a little closer,” Francis suggested and he led the way through the scrubs to where his former self was crouching.

At his feet lay the tiny black shape of a very small puppy. But just as Billie and the older Francis arrived at the spot, the poor thing stopped whimpering and became rigid altogether. It had died under their very eyes. 

Billie’s gaze shot towards Francis in shock but he shushed her with a finger on his lips and pointed back at the scene in front of them. 

The old man picked up the pup’s body and started rubbing it. 

“What cold-blooded bastard left you here, eh?” he muttered as he tried to get some life back into it, “Think you’re a gonner, old boy. But I don’t think I like that”. He brought the tiny body close to his face so as to inspect it in detail and continued to rub it. 

Then the scene suddenly changed and the next moment they stood in a dirtier version of the present-day kitchen, where the Francis from the memory stood holding the pup in one hand and pouring some milk in a saucer with the other. Then he took out a syringe from one of the table drawers and with a little difficulty managed to fill it with some of the milk, which he brought to the pup’s lips.  

“Come on, boy,” he muttered as he carefully forced the syringe between its teeth and trickled the liquid into its little muzzle. It took a few moments still, but all of a sudden a tiny little tongue appeared and the puppy slowly started to lick and swallow the milk. 

“Come, “said the present-day Francis and the next moment they were back in the same kitchen they had left a little while before. 

“And that’s why I called that lad over there <i>Lazarus</i>. He was raised from the dead, so to speak. Quite a little fighter, that one”. 

As if the dog understood that he was the topic in this conversation he lifted his head and happily started to wag his tail. 

“So how did you like the pensieve experience?” the old man asked her.

“Brilliant!” exclaimed Billie, “Although I can’t very well say why I would feel a need to use it”. 

“It shows details which you may overlook when you recall past events. It gives you the chance to quietly look at them from a distance and learn”. 

“Hm… I see. And those silver threads are thoughts?”.

“Yes, and you can now take them out yourself if you like, the ones you don’t want me to see. It’s not a difficult thing to do. You just bring the memory to the forefront of your mind and then you direct it to your wand and you pull very slowly and carefully, like this”. 

And another thread appeared from the side of his head, but this time he didn’t bring it to the pensieve. Instead, he summoned a small bottle towards him and let the silver thread curl into it. 

And then it dawned on Billie what the invisible flask in her bag must contain: a memory, probably of a secret nature, for it looked exactly like the thing that was now floating in Francis’ bottle. She had to stop herself from rushing to her room and bringing it down to the pensieve. 

“Can you try to take your thoughts out and put them into these flasks?” asked Francis before she could succom to that temptation. “Just try. Nothing complicated”. 

She did as he told her and very soon, three flasks were standing on the table, in which a silvery smoke sat swirling around. 

“Now then,” said Francis, taking position at a few paces opposite her, “There is no uniform technique for closing one’s mind to intruders. Some people use very physical means of protection like shutters, or a door…”

‘… or a white screen,’ Billie thought spontaneously. She didn’t know where the idea came from but it seemed like the perfect thing to hide things behind, even thoughts.

“… others, however, don’t even need this. If you look into Severus Snape’s mind you only see a black hole. Very tricky, because then you can never tell for sure if he’s performing Occlumency or just being relaxed”. The unexpected mentioning of Severus caused the usual shock with Billie, which didn’t pass unnoticed with Francis, who was already entering her mind. He couldn’t detect why she reacted like that, though. She had probably removed those thoughts. 

“Now, on the count of three. One… two… <i>legilimens</i>”

It was a very funny sensation. Billie had the feeling that images were being forced to the forefront of her mind and she couldn’t really resist them– she thought of her gran who was picking her up from the local village school when she was a small girl and of Oliver Wood, who she had fancied in her second year, and about her Potions NEWTs, when she was telling the jury about her dad being a muggle chemist, but then she remembered what the purpose of this exercise was and she forced herself to concentrate on a white screen and that screen only. It was a rather frantic attempt but it worked, and after a couple of minutes, Francis gave up. 

“Excellent!” he exclaimed, “Not very subtle that white screen, but very effective indeed. A superb first attempt!”. 

“Thank you,” said Billie, relieved that there was finally something she seemed to have a natural flair for. 

“Mind you, there’s still some finetuning to do, and it has to become a natural reflex, so we will have to practice a lot more. A more skilled Legilimens, or one who tries harder than I did now, would still be able to penetrate your mind quite easily, but this is already a lot more than I’d have hoped for. Shall we give it another try?”

The more they practised, the quicker Billie managed to pull up the screen and the more comfortable she felt doing it. 

“Very good”, said Francis after several more attempts, “Now, if you’re not too tired to try something new, I would like to take you a little further. I have just tried to penetrate your mind at random, with no specific purpose. Now let’s see what happens if I ask you a specific question to which you don’t want to give a straight answer”. 

“OK,” said Billie. She didn’t think there could be much difficulty in that, but it definitely sounded like an interesting exercise. 

Francis came a little closer to her so that he could look her straight into the eyes and lifted his wand. “On the count of three… one… two… <i>who do you miss most here?</i>”

The images of Severus, Emily, her family and the Weasleys automatically flashed through her mind before she could pull up the screen. 

“Sorry…” she muttered, “It’s more difficult than it seemed, apparently”. 

“Yes…” said Francis slowly with a shrewd look in his eyes. Snape kept popping up in her thoughts. He really wondered what had been going on between those two and how she felt about his present role as Voldemort’s right hand. “I think we should call it a day. You have done very well”. 

“Thank you,” she simply said. She felt embarrassed now that she knew she had revealed emotions he shouldn’t have seen, a feeling that did not really improve when he picked up the Daily Prophet from the kitchen cabinet and handed it over to her. Her eyes immediately met the cold black ones of the man on the front page.

“It’s an old one, mind,” said Francis, “I’m behind with my papers. But I thought you might like to see it anyway”. 

“Snape is Headmaster of Hogwarts now?” Billie whispered incredulously, and when her eyes fell on the smaller picture in the article, that showed the two Carrows, she began to shake all over her body and dropped down on a nearby chair . “<i>Severus Snape has appointed Alecto Carrow as Teacher Muggle Studies and her brother Amycus will be teaching the Dark Arts</i>”, she read,<i> “‘Mr and Miss Carrow are a welcome addition to this school’s staff, and their appointment fits perfectly into the new direction Hogwarts will be taking in the new school year’ says the new Headmaster, “We intend to bring the old values back into our classes and students will be taught to respect them and obey to them. This, together with the removal of so-called Muggle Borns from this institution will soon bring Hogwarts back to the high standards it used to reach before it so sadly declined under the more recent Headmasters… </i>“ 

For a moment, Billie sat trembling, unable to read any further and at the same time not believing what her own eyes had read. “But that’s horrible!”

“It is,” said Francis, “And I can see it affects you personally. That’s why I hesitated to show it to you”. 

He sat down opposite her and let his eyes rest on her sad face. 

“Billie,” he said after a while, “there is something I have wanted to ask you for some time already”. 

She reluctantly tore her gaze away from the stern face in the paper and looked up. 

“Yes, go on”

“Was it Severus who sent you here?”

“No, it wasn’t,” she frowned, “It was Minerva. I’ve told you that, haven’t I?”

“The note was not Minerva’s and she has never known I am a Legilimens or an Occlumens… Otherwise she would never have allowed me to look into her eyes in the old days” he added with a hint of a twinkle in his eyes.

“Oh,” said Billie, a little taken aback, “Perhaps someone told her? You must have mutual friends”. 

Francis shook his head. “The only person who knows about it and who we both know is Severus Snape. And Snape would never reveal another Occlumens or Legilimens to anybody, least of all Minerva, who he has never liked much”. 

Billie sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “But Snape has never discussed Occlumency with me. He doesn’t even have the faintest idea that I would want to become an animagus. I’m sure your name has never popped up in any of our conversations”. 

“Are you really sure? You told me you had gaps in your memory”. 

“I do, yes… “ she said thoughtfully, and she had an idea now where those lost memories were to be found. It was high time she brought that flask downstairs. Could it be that she had deliberately removed things she had shared with Snape? But why should she do that, when, until a couple of hours ago, she hadn’t even known how to do it? 

As if he was still reading her mind, Francis said, “If it was Snape who sent you here, in one way or the other, then this proves there is more to him than what we read in the paper. He’s supposed to be an important part of an organisation that wants to eradicate all muggle-born wizards. So why should he go so far as to help you become more proficient in crucial wizarding skills, knowing that if anyone found out how he helped a muggle-born, his whole position, and probably his life too, would be endangered. I should think that either, he is not really an advocate of You-Know-Who’s ideology and politics himself and just pretends he is, or he fancies you so much that he made this one exception to his own rules, in order to help you”. 

“The latter seems a bit unlikely , doesn’t it,” said Billie, a little blushing anyway, “given the enormity of the role and responsibilities he has. I don’t think he can afford letting himself be guided by sentiments”. 

“Yes, but perhaps this little <i>misstep</i> would easily be forgiven by his Master, just because it is <i>just </i>sentiments. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but it’s not as if you were the biggest threat to society”. 

“You’re supposing too much, Francis,” she sighed, getting to her feet again, “I think it’s simpler to suppose that it was Minerva anyway, or that someone else knows about you and sent me here”. 

“As you wish…” said Francis, “Perhaps I am getting too old and too sentimental for this world. But… am I right in assuming that you have your doubts about Snape’s intentions too?”

She let another sigh and sat down again. 

“I don’t know,” she said, “It doesn’t look good, does it. I have more been lying awake, racking my brain for explanations and excuses for what he’s said to have done than I have been asleep…”

“And when you sleep, you’re fighting all sorts of demons in your nightmares. It’s a miracle how you still manage to look so fresh. Another piece of luck these young people have over old buggers like me”. 

Billie sent him a sad smile. “The nightmares have become fewer in number, but I have these strange dreams…” There was usually very little she remembered from them when she awoke, apart from a vague feeling that she always dreamed the same things, and a very strong feeling of solitude and loss that settled down on her as soon as she awoke.

“How well do you know Snape?” Francis asked after a while, “He’s more than your teacher isn’t he?”

“Not much more,” she said, “I worked a little closer to him when I was preparing for my NEWTS last year. Oh, and he taught me things he didn’t teach the others because I was re-doing my seventh year. Potions is my favourite subject, so he thought it would be boring for me to have to make the same potions all over again when I had never had any trouble making them in the first place. So I suppose that creates a bit of a bond, and neither of us was fond of Umbridge either”. 

“Who’s Umbridge?”

“Dolores Umbridge- a Ministry official who was positioned at Hogwarts to spy on Dumbledore and anyone else. A nasty piece of work she was”. 

“I’m not surprised. Now that you mention it, I remember reading something about her in the paper”. 

“Yes well. She stuck her nose in everything, and Severus did not accept that of course. So he helped me with my potions in secret”. 

“I see. And then you became friends?” 

“No, not at all,” she smiled. It was funny to hear someone refer to Snape as a friend of hers, “I suppose we got along a little better than he usually did with a student, especially a non-Slytherin muggle-born student. But there was nothing more. And then… well, a couple of months ago, I turned to him for advice because I needed Devil’s Snare and he knew where to find some. So we went there together. And that was the last I saw of him. A couple of days later he killed Dumbledore… or he was said to have killed him”. 

“Did he give you the impression then, in whatever way, that he had gone over to the other side and that killing Dumbledore was his intention?”. 

“I have been thinking about that, and I believe he did,” she said, nervously shifting in her chair, “He explicitely told me not to contact him again, and hinted that I may not wish to ever see him again, which I thought was a funny thing to say”.

 “Yes… but quite understandable, given what we know now… hm… “. Francis sat chewing his nails for a while, a thing he normally did when he was thinking hard, “But did he behave differently? Were you threatened by him in one way or the other? 

“No, not at all. He was still very helpful and even friendly to me. He saved my life twice in that cave”. 

 “So it looks as if he wanted to warn you, and still he was planning the most horrible thing one could possibly do and joined the Dark Lord afterwards. A little schizophrenic, is he not?”

“Perhaps,” she said, pulling the paper towards her again. 

If only these dark eyes could give her some sign, some tiny little thing that would set her mind at ease… But they didn’t, of course. Snape was looking at her with a coldness that could turn any fire breathed by a Norwegian Horntail to ice in seconds.

“If I succeed in becoming an animagus, I would like to find a way to go back to him and see what he’s up to”. 

“You’d better learn to become invisible then,” Francis pushed back his chair and got up, “Snape will probably be as protected as You-Know-Who himself. I bet loads of people would love to lay their hands on him… ex-students for example – his reputation preceeds him… or people who want to revenge Dumbledore, … I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the school were plotting against him as we speak”. 

“Poor man, if afterwards he appears to have been innocent!” muttered Billie. 

“Yes… “ the older man sighed, “A small chance but true. If an innocent man who’s risking his life for the good course is spat out by society like he is, then we can only hope he is as guilty as the Dark Lord himself…  And now it’s time to prepare our horses for the night. Will you join me?”. 

“Of course,” she said, glad with the prospect of brushing and feeding the animals, the perfect job to combine with some undisturbed and probably uninterrupted reflexion about all there was to reflect on. 

 

But it wasn’t to be. As soon as she had taken her coat from the hook, someone rang at the frontdoor.  She frowned when the sound of men’s voices filled the hall, and the frown grew deeper when two policemen stepped into the kitchen. 

One she knew already- the conceited and ambitious young man who had interrogated her with his colleague immediately after the assault. But this time, he was accompanied by someone else, an older man who caused even more disgust with Billie than the younger version had done.

He looked puffy – or obese was perhaps a better word, but that was not the disgusting bit. What she instantly disliked were the bullet-round fish eyes in his fat face that explicitely looked down on her, even if the man was at least a head shorter than she was. If she had thought that his colleague was self-important, then this one was downright arrogant.

The fat man was the first one to speak. 

“Miss Matthews,” he said importantly and Billie realized that the most appaling thing about him were the corners of his mouth, which he pulled down as if every single thing or creature that crossed his path were only good enough to be smacked to the ground and crushed underneath the middle-high heel of his boot. “My name is Jacques Lebonheur, Brigadier de police. I have taken over this case from the Commissaire Gentil, which I am working on together with Mr Buissonnier, present herewith. On your request, we have made inquiries about the patient you had heard Mademoiselle… what’s-her-name… Marchand discuss with the nurse Sylvie, on the day she was attacked, and I am pleased to inform you that we have managed to trace him. And here is his picture”. He made it sound as if he had personally found back the Holy Grail. 

As soon as her eyes settled on the face on the picture, Billie knew that her worst fears had come true. 

Staring back at her was Terence Higgs, a fellow student from Slytherin who she had shared classes with, and that was about the only contact they had ever had, but his reputation had not been the best at that time. As far as she knew, he was definitely not a pure-blood -he had often ridiculed his muggle father- but she wouldn’t be surprised if he had become a Death Eater anyway and that Miss Marchand had rightfully thought there was something weird about the tattoo on his left arm.

“Do you know this person?” Mr Buissonnier asked.

“Not at all,” she took a moment to lower the white screen in her mind before she lifted her eyes from the picture and watched the two policemen in what she hoped was a completely composed way. 

“Are you sure?” asked Buissonnier, “Perhaps you should have another look at him”. 

“I’m quite sure. I don’t know him” she replied calmly, “Why should I? I don’t know anyone here”. 

“Oh, but this person is not local,” said the other policemen, Lebonheur, “He’s British like yourself. And I have a strong belief you two know each other”. 

“Because he’s British?” laughed Billie, “I’m not sure about the number of citizens my country has but it must be over sixty million”. 

She caught the warning glance Francis sent her but ignored it. 

“Didn’t you tell my colleague,” said Lebonheur as he leafed through a small pile of papers he had kept under his arm, “… that you live in Oxford and have been to school in Scotland?”

“Yes”

“Well, this person, Mr Terence Higgs, happens to have been to a Scottish school too. And he lived in Birmingham”. 

“Birmingham is about eighty miles from Oxford- over a hundred kilometer. And it’s the second biggest city in the UK. So why should I know him then?”

“School perhaps?” the spherical, cold eyes, in combination with the know-it-all sneer that was playing on his mouth made it hard for Billie to keep her composure, but she managed. 

“I have been to Saint Angela’s, which until recently was a girls-only school. I doubt Mr Figgs…?”

“Higgs”

“… Mr Higgs has attended that one”. 

“I can’t remember if he used that name, but we do know that he also went to a Scottish school, which is quite unusual for English students. Why did you go to a secondary school in Scotland when you live in Oxford, where you have the best schools within a fifty-kilometer radius?”

Billie brought herself up to full length and looked him straight into the fish eyes. 

“Are you suggesting that Scottish schools are inferior to the Oxford ones?”

“Of course we are not,” said the younger Buissonnier, “We are not that familiar with the British school system anyway”. 

“Indeed!” said Billie, doing her very best to sound as irritated and offended as she wanted to sound, “Not that I owe you an explanation for this, but my parents thought it would do me good, to be sent away to a boarding school, and after we had made a trip to Scotland, they preferred to let me study there. My mother‘s not English. She might as well have sent me over here, to France, where her relatives still live”. 

“Vraiment…?” said Lebonheur, clearly indicating that he didn’t believe a word of it, and Billie felt an even stronger disgust towards the man than she had felt before. “And still, I am under the distant impression that Mr Higgs is no stranger to you”. 

“Yes you have told me so already.” she said, “Well, I have to disappoint you. I don’t know him, and he doesn’t look like the type I would want to know either. Still, I can’t help wondering: <i>if</i>  I did know him… what does it have to do with you or with this case? He wasn’t involved in the attack on Miss Marchand, as far as I know?”

“Not directly, no. But you were right when you said that the attackers had previously paid a visit to him, and that he left the hospital immediately after the attack. So there is a link”. 

“But no link to me, so I’m afraid this ends our discussion. Unless you have any more questions?”

The two men exchanged looks that confirmed they had come at a dead-end street, now that Billie didn’t show any inclination to cooperate. Buissonnier shrugged and Lebonheur sent her a venomous look, but both men could do little else than take their leave. Billie accompanied them to the front door. 

“Should you remember anything about Mr Higgs anyway, Miss Matthews, we must insist that you get in touch with either of us without delay”. 

“I can’t see what that could be but why is that so important? Are you looking for him?”

“He has been involved in criminal acts, and we have difficulty locating him. So any information that could lead us to him is required”. 

“Has he been informed about the assault on Miss Marchand?”

“If he was in touch with his two friends, then I suppose he has”, said Buissonnier. 

“And have the assaulters been given my name?”

The men exchanged a brief glance.

“<i>We</i> haven’t mentioned your name, of course,” said Lebonheur, “We must protect you against retaliation”. But there was something in his tone that immediately alarmed Billie. 

“What do you mean by ‘<i>we’</i>? Has anyone else passed any details about me?”

“Erm… no”, said Buissonnier, clearly ill at ease, “But in some cases, their lawyer could obtain the right to inspect their file, and that contains all information about the parties concerned”. 

“And what are these cases?”

“That’s for the judge to decide when such a request comes”.

“And has such a request come?”

Another uncertain look passed between them. “We don’t know. But it is not impossible”.

“I see,” said Billie, “And I don’t suppose I will be informed when my details <i>are</i> passed on to them”. 

“Ah non,” said Lebonheur matter-of-factly, his eyes bulging wide with arrogance. 

Buissonnier tried to compensate a little for his colleague’s bluntness. 

“Should we hear anything about it, we will of course inform you and even provide the necessary protection”. 

“Really,” said Billie, not trying very hard to hide her scepticism, “Well, if we see anyone resembling the picture you showed us, we won’t hesitate to call”. 

Buissonnier nodded and both men took their leave. 

 

“He’s on the loose!” Billie burst out as soon as she came back into the kitchen, “Can you imagine? They have no idea where he is!”

“So you do know him?” asked Francis. 

“Of course I know him. He’s an ex-Slytherin and most probably a Death Eater too”. 

“I have to say that you hid the truth very well,” said Francis, “I had no idea you were lying”. 

“Lebonheur was not convinced,” she said, flinging herself into one of the kitchen chairs, “He clearly didn’t believe a word I was saying”. 

“And I wonder why… “ Francis frowned and sat down opposite her, “I’m serious, Billie, you sounded very convincing. I don’t know where your decisiveness suddenly came from, but if my Occlumency lesson has to do with it, you really have a talent”. 

“Good. Not that it will help me against Terence Higgs. If he has his mind set on me it won’t be very helpful that I can close my mind to him”. 

“Until now, we have absolutely no reason to believe that he’s after you,” said Francis 

“If he reads the file he will immediately recognise my name”. 

“But that’s supposing a lot, isn’t it,” said Francis, rising to his feet again “In any case, you’re well protected here, so if you’re careful not to go out too much on your own, there’s very little that can happen to you. You’ll be perfectly safe between my cows and the horses”. 

“I hope so,” sighed Billie, “Anyway, it’s time we took care of them. They must be starving. And tomorrow first thing, we’ll continue the animagus course and I don’t intend to finish until I’ve transformed!”. 

“Or until you end up with a cranial fracture as a result of all the times you’ve fallen to the floor”, Francis added dryly. 

“In that case, I suggest I bring my mattress down. I’ve had enough injuries lately”.


	4. Part III Chapter 4

4

 

“All right, Billie,” said Francis as he pulled up his shirt sleeves. 

His whole body language expressed determination: Billie’s firmly expressed intention to continue until she had managed to transform had pushed his ambitions a little further too. He knew that she could do it, and whatever it was inside her body that was blocking her had to be conquered without mercy.“You have your mattress behind you, and all furniture is out of the way, so there’s no reason to fight against whatever it is that you have been fighting these last weeks: just let yourself be carried away. Nothing can happen to you”. 

Billie nodded. She felt slightly nervous, because she could feel how something would happen today, and she tried not to think too much about what that something could be. 

“OK, if you’re ready, I’d suggest you try to do the incantation alone first. If it doesn’t work, I will help you next time”. 

Billie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. A bird… or a pig or a woodlouse… no a bird… she had to stick to a bird… <i>corpus animalis exsto!</i>

She instantly felt the now familiar sensation of organs and intestines being compressed and her breath cut off. 

The next moment, she was lying on the mattress. 

Well, at least that made a change to the kitchen floor.

She scrambled to her feet again and instantly raised her wand for a second try. 

“No, wait, I’ll help you,” said Francis, “Otherwise you’ll exhaust yourself. Just take a moment to catch your breath”. 

“I’m OK,” Billie assured him, still panting though, “Just go on before I change my mind”.

“If you’re sure… all right then, on the count of three… one, two, <i>corpus animalis exsto</i>!” 

If she had felt like a squashed lemon before, it was nothing compared to what she experienced now. It was as if she was forced through two ironing press-rolls, steam included. She had to gasp for breath, but this time, she wasn’t lying on the mattress. Her eyes were very close to the ground and when she tried to look up, her gaze hardly reached up to Francis’ ankles. 

“You’ve done it!” he shouted, “Look at you!”

Billie cast her eyes down to where she expected to see her feet and received a terribly shock when she perceived a pair of thin and tiny little legs and paws underneath her. She turned her head and saw that her body was covered with brownish feathers. 

She wanted to ask Francis if she was a sparrow or something, but she could only produce a throaty kind of tweet.

“A robin! My favourite!” Francis’ excitement would have been funny if, as a bird, she had been able to find anything funny at all. 

“Can you understand what I’m saying?” asked Francis, “Do you still know me?”

She tried to nod but in her new physical condition, that was not an easy thing to do, so she produced another tweet. 

“Well I hope this is meant as a confirmation. Watch out, I’m going to bring you back now… on the count of three… one, two, <i>corpus animalis reverso</i>!”

Changing back into a human being was a far less painful experience. Apart from the fact that she immediately lost her balance the moment her human legs re-appeared underneath her, which made her stumble and fall on the mattress anyway, she felt completely herself again. 

“Wow!” she laughed as she scrambled up again, “A bird after all! And I even survived the whole experiment!”

“I’ve told you you’d succeed!” Francis beamed, “Mind you, that’s an important step you’ve taken today. Even if I was needed to help you transform, your body has finally surrendered, and now it will be a lot easier for you to do it on your own. But I wouldn’t advise you to try that now. Transformation is physically and mentally quite demanding the first couple of times”. 

“I know. I have a feeling my ribs are broken”

“They aren’t” he assured her, “but you should be careful not to stay transformed for too long at first. You have to gradually get used to it”. 

“Amazing!” Billie was absolutely delirious, “I don’t even care that it hurt. And I’m so happy I’m a bird and a small one at that. Imagine what I will be able to do! I could hide everywhere and see and hear all sorts of things that can help the people fighting You-know-who. I can even pick out the eyes of Death Eaters like the Carrows”. 

“Oh, careful there,” Francis grinned, “Don’t forget that they’re wizards and that you’d be stupefied or killed even before you had the chance to fly up to them. And… a very important thing to remember is that, as a very small bird, you have many natural enemies and not just cats. Predators can spot you from a terrible distance”. 

“I know… I’ll have to get used to being a bird, won’t I”

“Yes, especially the food. Eating worms is quite natural for a robin”. 

Billie pulled an ugly face. “I’ll make sure I’ve had tea before I transform”. 

“Excellent”. Francis sent her another broad grin, “You have made enormous progress these last two days. Yesterday, you were neither an animagus nor an Occlumens, and look at what you’ve achieved now!”

“Shall we practice some more Occlumency? I like it a lot more than this, to be honest”. 

“All right. I’ll get the Pensieve, or do you still have your thoughts bottled in the flasks we used yesterday?”

“N… no, I put them back,” She was suddenly reminded of the invisible flask in her bag. She had completely forgotten about it after the two policemen had come to visit them on the previous day. She had to make a mental note of fetching it and looking at it from the pensieve. 

The mere prospect caused an even stronger sense of excitement than her transfiguration had done. 

 

They spent a couple of hours practising Occlumency, and it rapidly became clear that Billie had indeed a natural flair for it. She managed to conceal a big part of her thoughts, also when Francis put an unexpected question to her, but her speed could still be approved. As to the blocking of emotions, there was still a long way to go, but she managed to shut away the easiest ones already, like anger and humour. When they had finished, she thought about the invisible bottle and decided to bring it up to Francis.

“Of course you can make use of the pensieve to have a look at it,” said Francis, “But are you sure that is wise? The bottle may have been concealed for a particular reason, and you’re not even sure you concealed it yourself”. 

“Yes, but if I wasn’t supposed to find it, why did they put it into my bag then? It would have been more logic to keep it out of my reach”. 

“True,” Francis acknowledged, and there was indeed little he could bring up against this, “All right, then. I won’t go with you, of course, but I’ll make sure I’m not too far away in case you need me”. 

“Can anything go wrong?”

“No but reliving things the way you do in a pensieve can be a very frightening experience, especially if you don’t know what to expect. Just remember to lift your head when you want to step out of the memory. You may not think about that when you’re going through heavy emotions”. 

“Oh…” she wasn’t sure she liked the sound of this. She had struggled with emotions for months, and going in search of new ones was not a thing she was particularly looking forward to.  But her curiosity was much stronger than her fear for unexpected things that might happen, so before she could change her mind, she rushed to her room in search of her bag and was back in instants, holding the now visible bottle. 

 

Francis discretely moved to the other side of the kitchen where he started rummaging with cooking pots and vegetables. 

With a heart racing with excitement, she uncorked the flask and slowly let its content flow into the pensieve. She received a shock when she saw pieces of a familiar cloak pass by and instantly plunged her head into the bowl. 

 

As soon as she had landed, she had to suppress an urgent need to lift her head and leave the pensieve again, but then she realised that the Carrows couldn’t see her and she relaxed. 

Well… relax was not the right word. Looking at herself being tortured by the horrific couple was not the most pleasant thing to do, to say the least. These were memories she hadn’t forgotten, and she wondered why she had to relive them again, but then the door opened and with a shock she saw Severus Snape walk in. 

His impassive face settled on the sad figure on the ground, and for a split second, Billie saw a muscle twitch in the corner of his mouth and he blinked one or two times more than he usually did.

“That will do, Alecto,” he drawled lazily, “I have told you I would like to have the final… word with Miss Matthews. And I think you had better leave anyway. If I am not mistaken, you were both requested at the Malfoy Manor tonight”. 

“He’s right, Amycus”, said the woman, “We’d better not be late, eh”. 

“What about you?” Amycus asked Snape, “Is the Dark Lord not expecting you then?”   

“I am excused, of course,” said Severus, “The Dark Lord does not need me for the task he has set on you”. 

Brother and sister did not seem very impressed with this, but now that Snape’s superior position was confirmed by his appointment as Headmaster of Hogwarts, they didn’t openly dare to criticise him, so with a bad-tempered look backwards at the unconsious girl on the ground and another one at Severus, they turned around and left the room. 

 

Snape waited a few moments until the sound of their retrieving footsteps had died out.

Billie stood watching the scene overwhelmed with emotions. Standing here, at just two paces from a person she had been longing to see for so long, but who couldn’t see her himself, was an experience too strange for words, but not knowing what was going to happen next, if Snape would follow his fellow-Death Eaters’ example and continue their cruel game, or take the course she was desperately hoping he would take, was pure agony. 

And it lasted an eternity. 

After the Carrows had left, Snape stood staring through the window until he saw them walk away from the grounds. Then, instead of turning to the girl, he walked to the fireplace at the far end of the room, threw a handful of floo powder into the flames and called Filch. 

In seconds, the caretaker’s toothless and none too sorrowful grin appeared in the flames. 

“Professor Snape? How can I be of service to you, sir?”

“By not letting anyone in until dawn,” said Snape, “Not that I am expecting any visitors, but the castle is not fit to receive anyone today. I need some time to settle in, and I prefer not to leave any external parties in Minerva McGonnagle’s or Professor Slughorn’s hands”. 

“I understand, sir,” Filch grinned conspiratorially. 

Hearing Snape openly declare McGonnagle unfit to receive his visitors was as good as a birthday surprise. He was going to enjoy serving under his new Headmaster!

“Very well then. That will be all”. 

“Goodday, sir” and with a pop, the caretaker’s ugly face disappeared again.

Billie was trembling from head to foot when she saw Snape take a step towards her injured self and levitate her body so that it was hanging upside down in mid-air. 

But then her eyes caught the expression that had appeared on his face, and she saw him gently lifting her blooded T-Shirt and inspect the injuries. And when his hand slipped into his inside pocket to take out a healing potion, she finally understood which side he was on and she felt tears come into her eyes. She wanted to rush to him, but that wouldn’t have been very helpful in this virtual world of course, and she wanted to scream and dance with joy but she was even too emotional to do that, and with every minute she stood marvelling at the skilful and tender way he was taking care of her, the emotions grew heavier still. 

Finally, by the time the first memory was coming to its end, which was when Severus was bandaging her shoulder and putting her to bed after he had treated all her injuries and had helped her take a bath, she thought it was high time to take a break and digest all she had been through in the last hour. Reliving this had been an overwhelming experience, and that was a very weak way of putting it. 

She lifted her head when Severus turned away from her former self and walked to the door, and appeared out of the pensieve, just when Francis had seriously started to wonder if anything had happened to her and if he should follow her into the pensieve to rescue her.

He opened his mouth to air his relief at seeing her back but shut it straight away when he saw her burst into tears and sink down on a chair.


	5. Part III  Chapter 5

5

 

There it was; blood-red gigantic letters on the century-old castle wall, just at the entrance to the Great Hall : “<i>Dumbledore’s Army Recruiting Again”</i>. 

The message didn’t surprise him, of course. 

If Potter thought it was necessary to create an underground DADA group under Umbridge, when Voldemort’s return was still publicly questioned, then of course students would very much want it to be brought back in these times. But he had not expected it to be promoted so openly. It was saying something about the determination of the students behind it, Longbottom no doubt. It required an enormous amount of courage, or rather nerve, he had never expected in the weak-minded boy of the earlier schooldays.

“Dumbledore’s army?” croaked Amycus, “What’s Dumbledore’s army?”. 

“No idea,” said Severus softly, “Some students association probably, where mischief is planned, subversive conversations are held and no doubt alcohol is drunk”. 

“Subversive eh?” said Alecto, fondly fumbling her wand, “We’ll beat it out of them, we will! Who d’you think is after this, Headmaster? Longbottom again? Or that Corner boy?”

“If it ain’t them, we’ll make them say who’s behind it”, agreed Amycus, “Give us an hour with them, Headmaster, and we’ll bring you the rioters”. 

“I doubt that will make them talk,” said Severus slowly “They are stubborn as a mule and they stick together like glue. Your efforts, however noble they may be, Alecto, will be counterproductive, I am afraid”. 

The woman, clearly pleased with the praise she was given, lifted her piggy little eyes and stood staring at him for a little while with her mouth half open in admiration 

“If you say so, Headmaster”, she whispered awestruck, “And what, in your opinion, would be a better way?”. 

“Kill them all!” her brother spat out, “the whole lot of them! That’d teach the rebellious bastards a lesson!”. 

“You know how the Dark Lord displeases the spillage of pure blood, Amycus,” said Snape coolly, grateful that the man’s intervention gave him an excuse to tear his gaze away from Alecto’s lustful face that was lifted up to him. He had to suppress a shudder. It really wasn’t an erotic thing to be drooled over by a creature like her. 

“It suffices for you to keep your eyes and ears open and to continue to report every suspicious gathering or activity you hear about directly to me. I am sure it will be a small effort for us to destroy the seeds of organised rebellion as soon as they pop up. I have a few ideas…”

“I bet you have, Headmaster,” Alecto grinned gleefully, “I can’t wait to hear your instructions”. 

“Very well, then”, said Severus and with a lazy flick of his wand, the graffiti dissolved in thin air and the wall looked as medieval again as it had done before, “It is comforting to see this school’s discipline in such capable hands”, he added, and with a slight bow, he left the siblings alone. 

 

He was still pondering on the many acts of violence he suspected the couple to perform on the students without his knowledge, and on the question whether he should intervene or not, and how he could do so in an inconspicuous way, when his eyes fell on a gap in the wall that revealed a complete staircase at the spot where the statue of the gargoyle should be standing. 

He was just about to put his foot on the first step and rush to his office, when his ears caught the sharp intake of breath somewhere above him. He looked up and to his astonishment, found an odd trio standing on top of the stairs, desperately trying to hide a glittering sword behind their backs. 

For a moment or two, an icy silence hung between them, during which all four of them stood staring at each other as if paralysed. Severus, on the outside only surprised and furious, but inwardly subject to a heavy panic at the realisation that his safe haven had been broken into, took some time to take their shocked faces in. 

Longbottom was involved again of course; and the lunatic Lovegood girl… and Ginny Weasley, the cheeky Potter-girl who he disliked as much as her boyfriend and who he had always avoided to look at if he could help it. Even now his gaze only briefly met hers before it settled on the other two. He considered her as an unworthy, and at the same time painful reminder of Lily, and that feeling had not improved in the last months.

Then, very slowly, and very threateningly, he started to climb the stairs until his eyes were level with theirs and he found himself at the highly intimidating distance of just a couple of inches from the their faces.

“Well… well… well…” His silky voice was hardly audible over the sound of their pounding hearts in their ears, but there was no escaping the ice-cold black eyes that were deeply boring into theirs, “Undesired visitors to the Headmaster’s office… Get inside!”. 

The trio didn’t dare to object, so they quickly turned around and entered the office again, immediately followed by Snape, who, as soon as he came in, registered the now empty glass case, of which one side lay scattered into pieces on the carpet. 

Then his eyes travelled back to the intruders and he stretched out one hand. Without a word, Ginny pushed the sword into it, all the time meeting his unfathomable gaze as impertinently as he had never seen her do before, and that was saying something. It fuelled his anger even more.

“Breaking into the Headmaster’s office is of a brutality and lack of respect this school has never witnessed before, “ His tone remained soft and silky, but only Snape managed to add a mortally threatening edge to it, that visibly caused discomfort with Ginny and concern with Neville. Then he brought his face at a mere inch of Neville’s. 

“Who gave you the order to steal this sword?” he snarled furiously, “Answer me!”

Neville returned his deadly gaze nervously, but not in the same agony he used to be in when he was addressed by Severus in class. The boy had come a long way since the previous years, when merely mentioning Snape’s name had been enough to instantly send him up a cupboard. 

“Noone did”, he said, his voice surprisingly steady. 

“Liar!” Severus spat out, and when Neville remained impassive, he shifted his gaze to Ginny and took a step closer to her. “You are in touch with your dear boyfriend Potter. And I want to know exactly where and when you spoke to him”

“I’m not!” said Ginny, not very much at ease either, but quite composed still. “I haven’t spoken to him in months!”. 

If she was lying, she was remarkably good at it. The mere cheek sent his blood racing through his veins like mad.  

“I don’t believe you!” he hissed, “Potter ordered you to steal this sword, I know it!”

“Excuse me, sir,” came the dreamy voice of Luna and the black eyes instantly shifted away from Ginny and stared deeply into the fishy light-blue ones.

“I don’t believe that is true. You see, Harry has disappeared during Bill’s wedding and even his closest friends haven’t received any news from him. We even fear he might be dead”. 

“Really?” muttered Severus, not interrupting his mind-reading when he continued to speak, “Well, in the most fortunate event that Potter did indeed die, there would not have been a point in breaking into this office and stealing the sword anymore, would there? You have just given me proof that your dear friend is still very much alive; lurking in the wild no doubt, hiding and expecting others to do the dirty work for him; the typically cowardly and conceited behaviour he is so famous for, your Chosen One!”. 

He swirled around and with furious strides headed for his desk where he flung himself in the seat. Then he folded his hands in front of him and sat staring at them for a couple of long moments, during which only the ticking of the metal instruments on the round table in the corner could be heard. Even the usual snoring from the paintings had stopped, for all previous Headmasters were watching the scene with interest. 

 

Severus was in fact considering if he should feed them veritaserum, just in case they knew where Potter was, but the chance that they did was so small after what he had seen in their minds, that this was probably not going to lead him anywhere. So he abandoned the idea and thought about a punishment that would match the seriousness of their action, but at the same time didn’t harm them too much. 

Handing them over to the Carrows was therefore not an option. 

After a while, he stood up again and threw a handful of powder into the fire next to him. 

“Draco!” he called, “Come to my office at once”.

Then he sat down behind his desk and picked up his quill.

“You will instantly leave this office and walk straight to the Forbidden Forest, where you will be awaited by your Care of Magical Creatures Teacher, whom Mr Malfoy will hand this note. If you care but a fraction for your miserable lives, I would strongly advise you not to try any tricks on Mr Malfoy. I sincerely promise you that it will be the very last thing you have done. In the Forbidden Forest, you will perform the task written on the note, this for the rest of the evening and night, after which you will attend your classes as usual… if you survive your task, that is”. 

It hurt him to see the relief in their eyes. Not that they would greatly enjoy the capturing of red caps, but the treatment was far too soft. In normal circumstances, he would instantly have expelled them. But he didn’t want to send them away. They could be valuable, should things come to a head. 

And yet, he couldn’t think of a better punishment at this point. He was too shaken by the mere fact that students had been able to break into what he had always considered to be the best protected room in the castle. And he couldn’t shake off the horrible feeling that if anyone else had managed to sneak inside, a Slytherin student or the Carrows, while he had been talking to Dumbledore for example, he would have been in the most serious trouble. 

 “I will constantly be keeping a close eye on you,’ he continued softly, “And I will ask my staff and a few of your fellow-students to do the same. Should any of you only <i>breathe</i> Potter’s name, or just <i>consider</i> contacting him, I will know immediately, and I will not answer for the consequences!” 

There was no mistaking the fury and menace in his voice and he found it a little discomforting that he generated so little distress with them.“The sword will immediately be sent to a safe place, so you can spare yourselves the effort of breaking into my office again”.

At that instant, someone knocked at the door and Draco Malfoy came in. 

“Kindly escort this lot to Rubeus Hagrid’s hut, Draco” 

The boy’s pale face lit up when he saw how the trio had manoeuvred themselves into deep trouble, but it didn’t radiate the same smugness it used to do. Contrary to what he had always suggested, Severus had never particularly liked Draco Malfoy but the boy’s changing behaviour didn’t leave him indifferent either, and he couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. 

But then he grew tired of the whole lot of them and, more importantly, he needed time to think, and with a wave of his hand, he dismissed them all from his office. 

 

“That is extremely serious, Severus,” came the quiet voice of Dumbledore from behind him, as soon as the door had closed behind the students.“I know,” He turned his chair around to face the portrait. “It proves that the security in this office is absolutely insufficient. We have been negligent”. 

“You are very right, and we are lucky to have hidden the real sword”.

“Yes…” Severus stood thinking for a while, “Do you think Potter is behind this?”

“Very likely so, and if those young people have been in touch with him since he left, then I believe we have another matter to seriously worry about”. 

“Carelessness…,” Severus agreed, “However, I do not believe they have been in touch. Neither of them showed any signs, not even the Lovegood girl, whose mind is easier to read than her father’s paper”.

“Is that so?” smiled Dumbledore, but the twinkle in his eyes was only briefly visible. His face instantly turned grave again. “If they had succeeded in taking the real sword, it would almost certainly have fallen into the wrong hands”. 

“My thoughts exactly… “ Severus sighed deeply, “What puzzles me is why they went through the effort of breaking into this office and stealing it, If they are not in touch with Potter and have no idea where he is. What were they hoping to do with it?”. 

“To keep it safe, until Harry turns up, no doubt. They must have an inkling that the boy will come back to Hogwarts sooner or later. Perhaps he has told them himself”. 

“Perhaps…”

“Thank you for not handing them over to the Carrows, Severus” Dumbledore smiled sadly, “It proves once again the noble and compassionate nature of your heart”. 

“I would not push it too far, Dumbledore,” Severus automatically switched over to sarcasm. He had never been good at receiving praise, especially about his character, which he didn’t think contained any nobility at all. And if it did, then he knew it came from guilt and therefore shouldn’t be praised.

“Anyway, it is high time I reinforced the protection around this room” he said as he got to his feet, “I will disconnect the floo network from the fire, to start with”. 

“This fire is hardly connected”, remarked Dumbledore. 

“I know, but the little connection it makes is dangerous. I will close it altogether, and the ones in the room next door as well. The rooms are warm enough as such”. 

“The castle takes care of its headmasters,” smiled Dumbledore. "I wouldn't go through the trouble of closing the hearth in your private quarters".

“And I need a serious talk with the gargoyle”, Snape continued, “Too many people can come bustling in. I do not want any visitors in this office anymore. If the staff want a word with me, they can address me during meals or during staff meetings”. 

“And the Carrows?”

“Same thing for the Carrows”, Severus said firmly, “I will grant them the occasional favour, so as not to lose their trust, but I do not want any of them in here”. 

“Very well,” said Dumbledore, “We cannot be too careful, but there is little to fear. We are privileged to have the school in your capable hands, Severus”. 

Severus merely nodded and walked to the door that was half hidden behind the silver instruments and that lead to his private quarters, where he would close the fireplaces and double-check if the security spells were still strong enough. Especially these rooms were out of bounds to anyone other than himself.


	6. Part III Chapter 6

6

<i></i>

“It’s still not my favourite branch of magic, you know,” said Billie as she continued to brush the Belgian mare Louise’s massive hindquarters, “But it’s less painful than it used to be. I always thought I was being flattened like lasagna paste every time I transformed”. 

Francis laughed, “And what does it feel like now?”

“Erm… let me think. Being cuddled by an elephant?”

“Hardly any better, you mean,” grinned the old man who stooped to lift one of Hermie’s front feet on his knee and started to carve the dirt out of the horse’s hoofs. “It will not get much better, you know, so you’d better get used to it. But the main thing is…” His head shot backwards when he received a clod of earth in his mouth, “Pfweh … bwah!... that wasn’t nice! Anyway, the main thing is that you can now transfigure completely independently, without my help. If you could just speed up a little more, you’re ready for whatever it is you’re planning to do”. 

“I still don’t have any plans,” said Billie, “apart from trying to see Severus, but that’s not really strategic, is it?”

“Do you still intend to go after him?”

“Yes, I still can’t remember what it is I’m seeing in the pensieve, but there’s no mistaking my feelings when I emerge from it. It’s about Severus, and it’s positive”. 

“I’ve been thinking about that, Billie, “ said Francis as he put Hermie’s foot back to the ground and straightened up, “Since you’re so good at Occlumency now, shouldn’t I bring the memories back to your mind?”

Billie nearly dropped the comb she was passing through Louise’s manes, 

“Are you serious?” she exlaimed incredulously, “But isn’t that dangerous?”

Francis shrugged. “I don’t think so. I don’t know what those memories are about, but they seem to be of a personal nature, and they may be the proof that Snape’s on the right side. They’re nothing that you can’t hide, in any case, except if you were faced with the Dark One himself, but I don’t think that will happen very soon”. He walked over to where she was combing Louise, so that he could face her directly. “The only weak point you have is the heavy emotion of having fallen in love with Snape, but that’s obvious, even without the memory playing in your consciousness, so bringing it back won’t make any difference. Besides, being in love with Snape is not the crime. The reason why that is so, and the role he’s playing of course <i>is</i>, in Voldemort’s terms that is, but you surely have no problem hiding those?”

“No,” Billie admitted and a radiant smile started to spread over her face, “So I can keep my memories? In fact, I could have received them back ages ago then?”. 

“Yes, but I didn’t want you to get them back, because they will probably make you want to leave and travel to Hogwarts straight away. And you weren’t ready for that yet”. 

“And now I am ready?”

“I think so,” smiled Francis, “More or less. And besides, it’s Christmas tomorrow. That would be a nice little present for you, don’t you think? I have no idea what else I could offer you”. 

“That would definitely be the best Christmas present I’ve ever had!” beamed Billie, “I’ll be in your debt forever’. 

“Well you can settle your debt by staying here until after New Year. I hate this time of year”. 

“I’ll be delighted!”

“Good, and meanwhile, I suggest we work a little longer on your speed in the next days so that by the end of next week, you should be ready to leave”. 

Billie couldn’t believe her ears. She threw the comb into the tools bucket and before she could stop herself flung her arms around the old man’s neck and was hugging him with such force that she felt him stagger a step backwards. 

“Sorry,” she laughed and released him, “But that is such wonderful news! Being fit to fly to Scotland and find Severus, imagine!” 

“Ah non!” exclaimed Francis, much to her surprise, “You can’t fly all the way up to Scotland, of course. You can’t stay transformed for a longer period of time than just a couple of hours, and preferably not all in one go. You’ll have to take a ferry or a plane … clandestine, yes, “ he nodded vigorously, “You’ll have to be very creative to be able to cross the Channel unnoticed and to do that, you will probably have to take your animagus form for a while, but definitely not all the time”.

“I know, so you’ve told me, sorry,” she said, “but be it as it may, the transformation offers loads of possibilities, and I’ve given the matter quite some thought already and I think I have a plan. Oh, I’m so thrilled we’re finally getting there! I hadn’t expected to be away before spring!”. 

“And now it looks as if Snape’s going to be one of the first you’ll wish a happy new year,” Francis grinned. 

 

A week later, just after New Year, when Billie’s departure was imminent, Francis brought the conversation back to her intention to visit Snape at Hogwarts. 

“I’ve been thinking about this, Billie. Have you considered the possibility that Snape may not be so thrilled to see you at all? Or that you misinterpreted his good intentions and that, in reality, he really <i>is</i> the Dark One’s true right hand?”

It was funny how Francis own reference to Voldemort as <i>the Dark One </i>made the Dark Lord sound a lot less frightening than he actually was. Being here, in his cheerful presence in this beautiful area that, now that the gang of burglars had been rolled up and safely shut away, had gone back to its peacefulness again, nearly made her forget that there was an ugly war raging in her home country. 

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t jump for joy when he sees me,” she assured him, “I don’t doubt that for a second. In his opinion, I’m a helpless and rather brainless nitwit who causes more trouble than she’s worth. On the two occasions I ran into him since I had graduated, he has had to save my life at least three times”. 

“Ah, but that was then and now is now. Now you have skills which may not lead you to trouble all the time. And you have managed to finish the anti-polyjuice potion spray and to improve your defensive technique”. 

“I hope so”. 

“You definitely have. So, provided he doesn’t kill you or have you arrested the moment he sets eyes on you, what is it exactly that you would like to achieve with your visit to Snape?”

“A task”, she explained. “I’d like him to give me a task. Either inside the school - I’m sure he could do with a pair of extra eyes and ears, especially now that I appear to be such a small animal when I transform. Or outside. There must be loads of things he would want to hear about. Things the Death Eaters are up to. Things happening in the streets or underground, I don’t know”.

“Risky business, Billie,” Francis thoughtfully chewed on the pipe he had just lit, “I’d stay as far from the Death Eaters as possible, if I were you. They’re no laughing matter”. 

“I know. I didn’t intend to come close to any of them, but still… Oh, I don’t know,” she sighed and lead the way to the door, “I suppose he will be the best person to judge what I can or cannot do”. 

“Probably…” Francis agreed and as they were bridging the distance to the kitchen’s backdoor, his eyes suddenly fell on the rickety letter box at the corner of the house, “Oh, look, a letter! How unusual! I never receive any muggle letters”. 

He fished a white envelope from the box’s mouth and studied the address written on it. “A French stamp. Now who on earth… oh!...  It’s for you!”  and handed it over to her. 

She took it in surprise, but was instantly alarmed when she recognised her father’s neat handwriting. With trembling fingers, she tore the envelope open and unfolded a short letter. 

 

<i>Dear Billie</i>

<i></i>

<i>I hope you are well and that you are progressing rapidly. Your mum and myself are still enjoying a relaxing stay here in the Ardèche. Mother is practising for a new series of concerts with the Nîmes Chamber Orchestra and I have developed a passion for cooking lately. I am even inventing recipes myself. After all, It can’t be very diffcult, can it? Cooking is chemistry, just like your potions and my mixtures are. But your mother does not like it very much. So I suppose there is still some improvement possible.</i>

<i></i>

Billie sniggered. She could very well picture her father mixing herbs and other ingredients and stirring in cooking pots with a scientific rather than gastronomic approach. 

 

<i>Peter has been sent back to the Home Office in London and is now working close to Uncle Richard. He has sent us a rather alarming letter which I would like to discuss with you in detail. I have to admit that we are seriously worried about the situation In Britain, more specifically about our Government. Please call me as soon as you can. </i>

<i>If I haven’t heard from you by Wednesday, I will assume something is wrong or that this letter was lost, and drive to Hargnies myself. </i>

<i></i>

<i>Take care. Warm hugs.</i>

<i>Robert Matthews</i>

 

“My brother’s working at the British government now!” she exclaimed, “How funny! He used to be a diplomat in Rome and he had only just been given the position”. 

“Is that was the letter’s about?”

“Yes,well… my dad thinks it’s a bad sign. He thinks that the government are in danger. It’s strange. Peter’s working with my uncle now. He’s never had the ambition of becoming a governmental secretary or anything”. 

“And your uncle is…?”

“The Prime Minister”. 

Francius gave a whistle between his teeth. “And did your father say the PM is in danger?”

“Yes… the whole government he says. Here… you can read it if you like”. 

Francis briefly let his eyes run over the letter’s content and handed it back to her. “You’d better make that phone call immediately. It sounds urgent”. 

“Yes. Is the phone box safe for such a call, you think?”

“I can’t see why not. It’s definitely safer than a phone in a café or something where everyone can hear you. Take a coat, it’s cold outside. And Lazarus”. 

 

The weather had indeed changed dramatically. Until a couple of weeks before, they had enjoyed a beautiful Indian summer with the trees shining golden and deep-red in the sunlight. But now, a sharp wind was blowing through the bare branches while thick, dark clouds were speeding through a cheerless sky. 

Billie drew the collar of her raincoat a little closer to her as she hurried towards the small market place, where a solitary phone box stood huddled against the church wall. She called Lazarus, who was sniffing at an overturned waste bin, and told him to sit and wait for her. 

The box was very little used in these mobile days; so as she pushed open the double doors and wriggled herself inside, she sincerely hoped the phone still worked, like it had done after the assault in the woods. 

The dialling tone sounded as soon as she had unhooked it, and after she had inserted her coins and dialled her parents’ number, her father nearly immediately answered. He had been very anxious to speak to her, apparently. 

“Thank God you’re calling Billie!” he said, and that was a very unusual thing for a level-headed person like her father to say, “We’ve been worried sick”. 

“Why? What happened?”

“We don’t know, that’s the whole thing! We haven’t heard from Peter ever since he sent us that letter, which was three weeks ago. And we couldn’t get in touch with you either, so your mother thought these are all bad omen. Are you all right?”. 

“Yes, brilliant. But what did Peter’s letter say?”

“He was sent to London, because Uncle Richard didn’t trust his Chief of Staff anymore”. 

“Why? What did he do?”

“He was rather vague about it but from what we could understand from the letter, Richard fears for his life. And Peter was hinting that your world could have to do with it. Anyway, Peter has been given the post and is now advising Uncle Richard, and he was going to keep us informed, but we haven’t heard of him since he sent the letter”.

“He probably doesn’t trust the communication channels. If the Death Eaters have infiltrated in the Muggle Ministry, then nowhere is safe. It’s the same in our world. I can’t get in touch with anyone either”. 

“Probably, but we’re worried”. 

“Obviously”.

“And now we were wondering… how’s your progress? Have you managed to learn what you wanted to learn?”

“Yes, more or less. I still need a little fine-tuning perhaps, but Francis is confident that I can defend myself now”. 

“Good!” her father sounded relieved, “And could you go back to London and pay a visit to Peter then?”

“I suppose so. I was planning to travel back to the UK anyway. But I’m not sure if that will be very helpful to you. If Peter can’t get in touch, then I can even less”. 

“That’s true… Well anyway, it will be good to know that you’re with Peter and that you could help him if need be. You know… with your special skills…”. 

“I hope so … I will try to find a way to send a message to you, in one way or the other. I’ll have a word with Francis about it”. 

“Excellent!”

They exchanged some more chit-chat, and New Year’s wishes, but then Billie’s last coin disappeared into the box so they said goodbye, and after she had promised once again that she would be very very careful, she left the phone box.

 

So that was that for her plans to fly straight to Severus, but her brother and uncle deserved her support now. She had no idea what she would find in London upon her arrival. She didn’t even know how to get inside Downing Street 10, provided she survived the trip to London in the first place, but she decided not to worry about that now. She first had to get ready, and carefully plan her trip, and then she supposed she just had to wait and see what needed to be done. 

 

She was still sunk in deep thoughts as she passed the last of the village houses and took the small path that lead to Francis’s house, Lazarus happily trotting around her, when her eyes fell on a dark shape a couple of yards ahead of her. 

At first, she thought it was just a person coming back from an autumn stroll through the woods, when she realised he was standing still, in the middle of the path, blocking her way. 

She hesitated and slowed down, until she was at a few paces from where he was standing, and when she noticed that he didn’t make any inclination to move, stopped altogether. 

And then she recognised with a shock the features in the pale face in front of her. 

Lazarus had spotted the stranger too and clearly sensed danger. He sped towards the man, barking loudly, but he didn’t get very far. Terence Higgs lifted his wand and sent a paralysing jinx straight into the dog’s face, which instantly caused Lazarus to freeze and fall on his side. 

“Billie Matthews…” he snarled, immediately pointing his wand at her when she had grabbed hers to undo his spell, “I knew it had to be you! There aren’t that many women by that name”.

“On the contrary, Mattthews is a very common name, and so is Billie” she replied coolly. 

“In the muggle world perhaps, but not in my world. We don’t have many of that scum amongst wizards, fortunately”.  

“What do you want?” She intended not to show any of the discomfort she was feeling at all, even if the whole area was deserted and Francis’s house still out of view, and now that she was faced with a Death Eater who most probably had been waiting for her to appear on this lonely path. 

“Revenge of course. It was you who attacked my friends, wasn’t it?”

“I helped an innocent girl who was being attacked by <i>them</i>”, she corrected him. 

“She had lured them into the forest, the filthy bitch”. 

“Really?” said Billie, so furious that she forgot to be scared, “And how come you have friends in this part of the world? What are you doing here anyway?”

“I could ask you the same question?”

“I fled the likes of you in Britain. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To have us all out of the country so that you can have the wizarding world to yourselves”.

“Not really. What we want is to have those thieving bastards registered and shut away, and possibly even destroyed, which is exactly what I want to do with you”. 

“Well I’m in France now. There’s noone who’s going to register my name anywhere, and definitely not shut me away or destroy me. Your Dark One has no power here”. 

Her cool-headed composure did not please him a bit. A shadow of fury passed over his ugly face and he took a threatening step closer to her. 

“I don’t need the Dark Lord’s power to do my bidding with you, mudblood. I can clear the air everywhere, and the Dark Lord will definitely thank me for it”. 

“Really?” she said, still too angry to be intimidated, “I was under the impression that the Dark One only surrounded himself with what he considers to be his elite forces, his Death Eaters, who have served under him for years. Not mere schoolboys like yourself”. 

“How would you know? You’re too low to have a right to interpret his deeds and thoughts” and with that, he furiously pushed up his left sleeve and showed her the ugly sign tattooed on his lower arm. 

Billie stood staring at it in disbelief and then, to Higgs’s utmost surprise, burst out laughing. 

“Is that all you can show me?” she snorted, “A fake Dark Mark you bought at some tattoo shop? How sad is that!”

“What do you mean <i>fake</i>? You’ve no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Believe me, Terence, I do!” she chuckled, “This is as much a Dark Mark as your outfit is a Barbie design. Jeez… I had no idea the Dark One’s fans were so pathetic!”.

“How dare you, you filth…” but before he had the time to lift his wand and hex her, her silently spoken disarming spell hit him first, and the next moment, his wand was flying up in the air and safely caught in her right hand. 

With another flick of the wand, she brought Lazarus back to his feet. The dog only needed a split second to recover and then leapt at his attacker and sank his teeth deep into his black trousers. 

Terence violently kicked and pulled, but the dog clenched his jaws more, with every kick he received, until the trousers gave way and a large piece of cloth was torn out of them. 

The dog instantly leapt at his attacker again, and snapped at his ankles and all other meat he could smell, until Terence was forced to ask Billie to take him off. 

“I won’t, until I’m a hundred percent sure you can do no harm”, said Billie good-humouredly. “You will have to follow your little friends’ example” and with that, she flicked her wand and thick robes sprang out of it and curled themselves around Terence’s ankles, legs and arms until he was tied up like a sausage.

“Tell you what, I’m getting good at this, “ she added cheerfully. “I’d never have guessed at school that I would have to use this so often in real life”.

She looked down on him, and all jest instantly disappeared from her face. 

“It’s a pity I can’t do anything about your memory. As opposed to your lot, I refuse to perform any illegal charms”. 

“Buissonnier will hear about this,” Higgs snarled, “He’s one of us, you know. Has had an eye on you ever since he heard about your stunt in the woods”. 

“A stunt that I have been very happy to repeat,” she said. She looked up at the sky where the grey clouds were gradually turning black. “And this time, I won’t alert the police. You can stay here and wait until some villager decides to take their dog out, which will probably not be until the early morning. Night is falling”. 

“You nasty…”

“Oh, hang on, I shouldn’t forget… “ She took out a handkerchief from her pocket, “You’re lucky it’s quite clean,” she said, “I’ve only used it once or twice” and then she forced it into his mouth and with another flick of her wand conjured another piece of robe, which she securely tied over his mouth. 

“There you are,” she said, “Nicely wrapped up like a Christmas present”. She straightened and looked down on him again, with a face that was now expressing pure contempt. 

“Well, I’m off now. You’re very lucky I have been so kind to you. Next time, you may not be so lucky. Anyway, give my regards to Buissonnier. Tell him he doesn’t have to impose himself on my grandfather this time. I’ll be gone before he has found you… Cheers! Come Lazarus”. 

She turned away from him and started to walk, but as soon as she was sure he couldn’t see her anymore, broke into a run and sped to the house and its safety as quickly as she could.

 

“Are you sure you have everything now?” asked Francis, “The winter clothes you bought in Charleville? The food?”

“Yes, yes,” she replied nervously, “It’s all in here, in my rucksack. Are you sure it will transform together with me?”

“Of course. As long as you keep it on your back, it will stay hidden when you transform, and reappear again when you take your human form”. 

“Good…” she said, “Well, … I suppose I’ll be going then, won’t I?”

It was an awkward moment. Now that she had attacked Terence Higgs and was therefore forced to immediately leave Francis’ house, which was a couple of days earlier than planned, they weren’t really prepared for her sudden departure. 

“I owe you so much,” she said, “I really feel uncomfortable leaving you like this, in a hurry, without saying goodbye to the animals or tidying up one last time for you”. 

“Never mind,” said Francis, his voice a little thicker than usual, “It’s probably better like this. I hate goodbyes”. 

“So do I…” she agreed, “Anyway, thank you very very much” She threw both her arms around him and held him in a tight hug that lasted a while before she released him and stepped back. “I have only just seen proof of what a long way I have come under your guidance. Until a couple of months ago, I wouldn’t have dreamed of attacking a potential Death Eater single-handedly”. 

“You were a brilliant student,” said Francis, his eyes unusually shiny, “And I will miss you. You’ve been a pleasure to teach and to have in the house, hasn’t she, Lazarus?”

The dog wagged his tail, but less happily than he usually did. He sensed she would be leaving, and after she had come down carrying her backpack, he hadn’t left her side. 

She stooped to scratch him behind his ears one last time. She would probably miss him even more than Francis… He had been her companion wherever she went, and the roommate who had kept the bad dreams away, or when they had come, who had comforted her. She would feel lonely, and the prospect of leaving behind this cosy house with its warm inhabitants suddenly made the world she was going back to a thousand times more threatening and unwelcoming than it had been before. 

She shivered, and decided that if she didn’t leave at once, the nerve would soon fail her completely. 

“Goodbye, Francis. I will try to find a way to send you a message as soon as possible. I’m sure my friends have developed some underground means of communication if I see them back”.

“Wait, Billie… Do you feel comfortable enough with your Occlumency skills to keep your memories about Snape? Or would you like me to remove them again for you?”

“No, I’m sure I can handle them. I would like to keep them with me on the journey. They give me the courage I need”. 

“Good,” he said, and before she was tempted to abandon her travelling plans altogether, she planted a last kiss on the dog’s head, turned to the door and, together with Francis, stepped into the dark and chilly night.

She immediately transformed, and so did Francis. He was going to take her through the woods until she could fly to the nearest city without the constant risk of being eaten. 

She clasped her paws firmly around the manes of the galloping chestnut horse and looked around, but a robin was not a night bird and therefore, her eyesight was poor. She was very glad Francis had offered to carry her through the forest. She felt highly uncomfortable, now that the natural enemies she was used to avoiding during the day had gone to sleep and the world was inhabited by night animals, who were a lot more dangerous to her. She instinctively dived under the horse’s manes when the hooting of an owl or the screetching of some other animal caught her ears. 

They raced at full speed, in a part of the forest where Billie had never been before. Francis had told her he knew a shortcut that would take them within just a couple of miles from Charleville in minutes, from where she would be able to catch the last train to Calais.   

When the trees finally opened up into a wide space of hills and meadows, on which a weak moon was shining, he stopped and they both transformed again. 

“Here we are,” he said, “This is the edge of the forest and of the area around Hargnies. The town is five miles further down the road you see over there. You’d better walk, I think. There’s plenty of hunters in the meadows, like owls and such”. 

“But then I won’t leave unnoticed, really,” said Billie, “Hargnies’s a small community and if Buissonnier’s after me, any car driver who passes me tonight could tell him where I went to”. 

“This road doesn’t lead to Hargnies,” said Francis, “That’s why I took you here. Buissonnier’s area lies to the north and east side of the forest, and beyond. This road belongs to the Charleville constituency already”.Billie nodded. “All right then. I’m off. Thanks again”. 

She gave him another hug and kissed him on both his cheeks. 

”Take care, dear girl,” said Francis, “And say hello to Severus Snape from me, if he has the decency to let you in and talk to you, that is”. 

“He probably will,” Billie said softly, a warm glow spreading over her insides, “If I’m not stuck in London and reach Hogwarts safely, then I’m sure I’ll be all right”. 

“Good, well, at least it isn’t raining and the wind’s gone. Let’s hope that this is the forebode of a prosperous journey. Goodbye, Billie”. 

And the next moment, the chestnut horse was turning away from her and disappeared into the dark shadows of the forest.


End file.
